


Scorpia's Return

by andipxndy



Series: The Soldier & The Spy [4]
Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Gen, Post-Scorpia Rising, Post-Scorpia Rising AU, started writing this before Horowitz added another book, will add more as i go along and remember
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2019-11-18 10:49:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18119303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andipxndy/pseuds/andipxndy
Summary: It had been a while since Alex had heard from them. He was starting to get back to having a normal life, being able to do things like a regular teen - make friends, study, play sports... but he, of all people, knew that his good times would be short-lived. If only he hadn't dragged his new friends into his world on his return... [Set in Spring 2013 | Post-Scorpia Rising | AU (because of Never Say Die)]





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from Fanfiction.net (username: The Needless Lobsters)  
> Starting post date for the original: 27/05/2014
> 
> Hello, my friends! Welcome to the third story in _The Soldier and The Spy_! This is probably the third time I've rewritten this story, so hopefully I can get it right this time and actually complete it, lol. This story was originally posted on fanfiction.net, but it was never completed, so it is currently being rewritten on there as well as here - i.e. fresh story all around. I'm rewriting chapters much like I rewrote the two prequels to this - characters have grown, along with my writing, and I needed to make everything fit otherwise the story wouldn't flow.
> 
> This story is set in Spring 2013, about 9 months after the events of _Rider's Return_. Because of the huge timegap, I'll be filling in with short stories over on so that it doesn't seem like nothing's been going on. I basically have a lot of plot to fill in, haha, but that's just more for you to read!
> 
> Anyway, thank you for coming back to it, if you've read it before (on ff.net, lol), and if this is your first time reading this fic, welcome! I hope you all enjoy the story!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original written: May 2014  
> Updated (this version): March 2019

Darkness.

That was what filled that room. Darkness.

Slivers of dim light filtered through the cracks of the small building, finding their ways through crumbling concrete walls and hastily boarded up windows and sliding underneath the heavy metal door that separated the room from the rest of the world, but none were as prominent as the single lamp in the back corner of the room, whose light flickered on occasionally and barely reached the old, slightly rusting, metal desk with its matching metal chair.

The table and chair were the only pieces of furniture within the room, save for the lamp, and a single, broad man with pale, blotchy skin occupied it, his size barely contained on the arm-less seat – months of being out of the criminal world had allowed him to grow lax in how he cared for his figure. His pale eyes were hidden behind an even darker set of sunglasses – unnecessary due to the lack of lighting, but still worn for the sentimentality. Dark clothes adorned his figure, stretched tightly around him as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk in front of him as his interlinked fingers supported his chins.

He was waiting.

The large steel door creaked as it was slowly pushed open, revealing a pair of men, silhouetted against the light coming into the room from behind them.

"Sir, you requested our presence?" one of them asked gruffly, with a hint of a Russian accent. His body, like his boss', was rather large and bulky, but unlike his commander he was built with muscle, and close observation revealed that his wispy hair was giving way to a receding hairline. His eyes were small, his lips thin, and his nose broad and flat.

The man at the desk nodded in affirmation, beckoning the two into the room with a single nod.

The steel door slowly shut behind the two males as they walked into the room, locking with a clang.

There was a click, and the small light cast by the lamp in the corner was suddenly overshadowed by a bulb hanging by cables above their heads, casting a dull, steady glow around the room.

The two men stood a few metres away from the desk patiently, backs straight and hands interlocked behind them, waiting the man to speak. And when he did speak, it wasn't something that they had exactly been expecting.

"How are you both?" he asked in a quiet, almost melodic voice. His eyes darted between the two and squinted behind his lenses, still trying to adjust to the light. "Doing well? Wives and families surviving? Happy?" Years of practice had allowed him to almost get rid of his Australian accent, and even switch to an American one, but retreating into the shadows had caused him to grow comfortable and it had become almost impossible to believe he had been from anywhere else.

The males that stood gave each other side glances, avoiding answering the question. With this man, there was never a straightforward answer. Anything that they said could get them killed, and the right answer was always either hidden or to not answer at all.

The boss stared at the two males for a moment longer, still expecting answers, before sighing at the silence. He knew he intimidated his people, but that didn't change the fact that he wanted to hear their voices. "I suppose I shall take that as a 'yes'," he muttered, before he sat up straighter at his desk, moving his elbows off it. "I have a request for the two of you," he told them, leaning back into his seat and looking over the two of them.

This was what the two males had been expecting, and they both stood straighter, staring straight at the wall ahead of them. Like old times.

"Why are we here?"

That brought both men's thoughts to a grinding halt again.  _What_?

" _Quoi_?" the second of the men blurted out before he could stop himself, his eyes widening when he realised what he'd done. It was a dangerous move on his part, the danger only heightened by the fact that it was only now apparent there was a gun sat there on the desk, within arm's reach of the seated man. Whether the safety was on or not, the sitting man was a murderer, and would be quick to pick up the gun and shoot if he wanted to.

This second standing man was considerably smaller than the man beside him, but that didn't make him any less fit that his larger counterpart. His body was lithe and more built to suit a runner than a fighter, and he had a large, sharp nose, with round eyes, and thin, almost non-existent lips.

"I said, why are we here?" the boss repeated, sounding a little irritated.

"Because this is our home," the bulky male answered finally, an Eastern-European accent slipping into his speech; at this, the boss sighed, seemingly getting nowhere with the men he could safely assume were either idiots or too well trained not to speak their minds.

His forefingers moved up to his temples to rub circles into them slowly, and he took a deep breath before leaning forward and placing his hands on the desk and starting on the two again. "And why is this 'our home'…?" he asked, as if he was speaking to a pair of three-year-olds.

The two men hesitated for a moment, not quite sure whether this was safe territory for them to speak on, but eventually one of them decided to speak up. Because they had both realised that if one of them didn't talk, they were both dead and replacements could be found.

"Because our work was destroyed," the slim male answered firmly in a light French accent, a twinge of an American accent tucked into his speech.

"And who by?" The answer to this question was simple. Anyone who had been in the now destroyed organisation knew. Anyone who had been connected to SCORPIA, or even part of the spying world, knew.

Anyone who knew Brendan Chase, ex-executive of SCORPIA and escaped felon, knew.

"Rider," the large man answered automatically, almost as if he was trained to say it.

And anyone who knew that it had been brought down knew that it was the British who were responsible for it. Not many in the spying world knew of the agent's name, but anyone who had once been a member of SCORPIA knew the name and knew to hate it with a passion.

Chase nodded. "But, of course. The one and only Alexander Rider, son of John Rider, both spies for MI6 and infiltrators of SCORPIA."

The two men stood rigidly, staring at areas of the wall just past their boss' head, waiting for what he had to say next. He hadn't asked a question; they had no reason to speak. A trait that had been valued by SCORPIA when it had still been around. And a trait that Brendan still valued and instilled in what remained of his men.

"Rider has reappeared on the map, but the last men who attempted to kill him failed," Chase spoke slowly. "However… he is no longer under the jurisdiction of MI6 – he is vulnerable, weak, and alone." A slow smile curled onto his face, and he lifted his sunglasses to reveal his pale eyes, which matched surprisingly well with his fair hair.

"Perhaps we should let him know that we're still around…"


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated: 01/04/2019
> 
> Hey, guys! I feel like it's been forever, but I've finally got back to this! Here's the rewritten version of chapter 1. Enjoy!

_"Come on, Alex – boot it!"_

_The group of three friends was currently out at the park just down the street Tom lived on, having a little game of one-on-one with Tom in goal. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, and none of the boys had been quite so eager to start on any of their holiday homework – hence their playing in the park after getting a healthy McDonald's lunch, their sandwich boxes and takeaway paper bags being used as goal posts. The trio hadn't been brave enough to travel as far as Hyde Park (considering Alex knew that Jack would most certainly kill him if she ever found out), but as James had said when they'd arrived: the place was decent if Tom could survive there._

_Alex had snorted at Tom's indignant response._

_James was the only person standing between himself and the goal. Well, Tom was there as well, but—_

_"Look, it's not as if Tom's gonna save it anyway, so you might as well—"_

_"Hey!"_

_"—go ahead!"_

_Alex grinned, passing the ball between his feet before practically skipping around James and lining up to take the shot—_

"Alex!"

Alex shot bolt upright in bed, gasping for air. That voice had distinctly not been Tom's, or James', and sounded far more realistic than he would've liked. Also a lot louder.

"Wha's goin'—"

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

He blinked heavily and looked towards the door, where Sabina stood in her usual polo shirt and jeans, half-ready for the school day ahead.

_School._

Alex groaned and fell back to lie on the bed, closing his eyes and willing his body to let him sleep for those extra five minutes. The dream he'd been having was relatively pleasant – sure, it brought up some pretty bittersweet memories along with it, but it reminded him of home and—

"Alex, you need to get up now."

"No."

"Alexander Rider, get up now."

Alex rolled over to face away from her. "Using my name like that won't get me up."

There was a good few moments of silence, and Alex dearly hoped that it meant Sabina had decided to leave him to sleep and he could skip out on school for the day.

No such luck.

"If you don't get up, I'm using the dog."

"Liz said you're not allowed to use the dog on me."

"She did not say that, and I  _will_  use the dog if you don't get up right now."

Alex turned over to face Sabina and glared at her. "I dare you to bring that dog upstairs."

Sabina met his glare with her own steely gaze, before bringing her fingers up to her mouth and giving a shrill whistle. All whilst looking Alex directly in the eyes.

The chaos that ensued downstairs was near instantaneous. There was a crash as barking started downstairs, and an angry call of, " _Sabina!_ " echoed through the house as a chocolate Labrador bounded up the stairs, racing past Sabina and into Alex's room.

The boy yelped as the dog leapt onto the bed and began to show him affection, pawing off the covers and licking his face earnestly. Alex's laughter only served to get her more excited.

"Sabina! Get that dog down here this instant!" came Liz's call from downstairs, and the girl merely smirked at Alex.

"Cocoa! Here girl!" She patted her leg twice, and the dog jumped off the bed, padding over to Sabina. The girl looked over at Alex. "I am willing to risk my freedom to get Cocoa to do that again, so I suggest you get up now."

Alex pushed himself up into a seated position, his hair a mess and his face wet with dog slobber. "I hate you sometimes," he grumbled as he pushed the covers off and crawled out of bed, which prompted Cocoa to approach him and earn a pat on the head for her trouble.

"Sabina!  _The dog, please_!"

Sabina whistled quickly, drawing the dog's attention to her. "Come on, Cocoa. Let's go." As they left the room, Sabina looked at Alex over her shoulder. "Start getting ready, please."

Alex ran a hand through his hair as he yawned, reaching up and stretching. Mondays were always difficult – honestly, they had been even before he moved to America – but he supposed the sun shining through the gap in his blinds helped that little bit.

It had been seven months since he'd officially started school at Elmer E. Robinson High School in San Francisco, and, needless to say, it was a whole lot more different than he was used to. The lack of a school uniform was what came as a shock to him first, though it was quickly followed by the shock of being fawned over for his accent. Luckily, being a naturally quiet person helped out with the second situation – not so much the first.

Along with starting a new school came, of course, the challenge of meeting new people. Not wanting to talk to people too much because of his accent meant that he wasn't really able to approach many people, and Sabina already had her own group – the popular girls, simply because she was a seemingly important member of the cheerleading squad.

That was another thing he'd found a challenge. Sabina wasn't the same person he knew back in England. Sabina was almost like those popular girls seen in the movies – a cheerleader, with popular friends and a boyfriend who played both basketball and football (they called it  _soccer_  here, he had to remember that). She wasn't always willing to hang out with him, because he was almost like a dark cloud in all of their conversations – dark humour rolled off his tongue without him thinking twice when he was in that crowd, and whilst he found it amusing to see their reactions, Sabina clearly didn't.

"Don't be an arse," she'd hissed at him the first time he'd done it. As her now adoptive younger brother, he'd claimed it was now his duty to be an arse. She'd almost banished him from hanging out with her after that.

Still, he'd managed to make new friends. And by that, he meant a loud, outgoing person had taken pity on him and pulled him into their group of mismatched friends, everyone with their own uniqueness and no precise reason for anyone in the group to be friends other than the fact that they were all just…  _weird_.

Something about their oddities reminded him of Andrew and his mismatch of friends, and he found himself wondering what exactly the other guy was up to. Last he'd heard, he'd given up American football (he refused to call it plain  _football_ ) for baseball, a decision Gibbs was glad for, and his younger sister was quickly on her way to becoming chess champion at school.

He was snapped out his thoughts by his reflection in the mirror, and realised he'd somehow walked himself to the bathroom and was now standing in front of the sink. Blinking a few times, he reached out for his toothbrush to clean his teeth, before washing his face clean of dog slobber and climbing into the shower.

It felt like an eternity before Alex climbed out of the shower, steam rolling off his skin as he grabbed a towel and dried himself off, tying it around his waist as he left the bathroom without bothering to dry his hair. As he moved, he mentally made a list of what was to be done for the day, almost stumbling back when he realised Liz was actually standing in front of him as he opened the bathroom door.

"Nice to see you finally made it out of bed, Alex," the woman greeted, a small smirk on her face as heat rose to his cheeks.

"Good morning, Liz," he greeted sheepishly, nervously scratching at his neck.

The woman simply chuckled. "Honestly, you and Sabina would bring the house down if given the chance," she chided lightly, before moving aside to let him past. "Now hurry up, school starts in half an hour, and you still need to have breakfast."

"Yes, ma'am," Alex responded as he rushed into his room, not bothering to wait for her to remind him  _not_  to call her that before shutting the door and beginning to get dressed. The teen quickly threw on a dark blue t-shirt and jeans, not bothering with his hair before he threw on a darkly coloured hoodie and headed downstairs with his bag. A quick poke of his head into the lounge told him that Edward was still home that morning, reading his paper in his usual armchair, and he sent the man a brief smile before making his way into the kitchen for breakfast.

As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, he was greeted with the smell of freshly made pancakes, and he spotted Sabina already digging into her meal, only glancing up at him when she took a sip of orange juice.

"I could fully inhale everything at this table, so you better come and eat."

"If you did, Macy would refuse to carry you at the top of the pyramid," he fired back as he dropped his bag by the kitchen door, moving to sit opposite her at the table. Before he could even grab a plate, a stack of pancakes was being set before him, and he looked up with wide eyes to see Liz smiling down at him.

"Eat up, you have a long day ahead of you."

A small statement, but Alex knew that she thoroughly meant the "eat up" part. When he'd first arrived at the house, after their brief stop in Washington, everything that had happened over the past year and a half had suddenly crashed down on Alex, and he began to retreat in on himself. It didn't help that the school year started barely a week after they arrived, and Alex was thrown headlong into meeting new people and learning a new curriculum, meaning that he often withdrew himself from both eating and socialising at the end of the day with the excuse of studying… not that his report cards showed much above a 'C'.

It was by some small miracle that he'd managed to find Chrissy and become practically adopted into her group of friends. It had taken longer than expected, but that, alongside the therapist he started seeing, was probably all that could pull him out of the pit he'd fallen into. It took a while for his eating habits to improve, and Liz was constantly worried that he'd fall back into something like that again and stop eating, but at the moment he was getting better.

Not quite there, but getting there.

Which was why he almost immediately started digging into the plate of food in front of him, practically inhaling the pancakes so that he had enough time to get to school, rather than push the plate aside. As soon as he'd finished the stack and gulped down the juice, he jumped up and made to grab his bag and leave when he heard Sabina clear her throat.

"Dishwasher."

He groaned as he turned back, picking up his empty plate and used cutlery and glass, and moving to put it in the dishwasher as he was told. Liz rolled her eyes a little at him, shaking her head as she took his breakfast dishware off him.

"Go on then, get going," she told him with a smile. He offered her a small smile in return before turning to head towards the door. As he pulled on his rucksack, he just about heard Sabina calling out for him to not wait up for her before he shut the door behind him, heading straight to the garage to grab his bike.

* * *

There was absolutely no reason why Alex needed his bike. As it was, the Pleasures only lived a few blocks away from the high school he and Sabina attended, so he could have easily walked and made it to the school building with plenty of time to spare. No, the reason why Alex took his bike was because it let him take the long way round – it meant he could get a short ride in before school started and get his blood pumping, waking him up before he spent hours sitting in classrooms and listening to the same old teachers talk over and over.

Not that he found school boring, but sometimes it just wasn't as stimulating.

Riding his bike also had the added bonus of allowing him to meet up with one of his friends on the way to school; a guy named Bradley.

Bradley was, simply put, an enthusiastic Floridian with a genuine love of all things soccer. One of the first people he became proper friends with (second only to Chrissy), he and Alex had practically bonded when Alex had told him about the team he supported, and Bradley had rattled off facts about every single one of Chelsea's dream team like it was no one's business. It was after that that Bradley told him his dad had taken him to some matches in England before, and that his grandfather was actually British and still lived over there, in the West, supporting the team he grew up with.

A street or two over, Alex came across someone else on their bike – a tall, redheaded guy who looked as if he'd been riding in some sort of race. As Alex moved to pedal beside him, the boy looked over and raised his eyebrows.

"Still not heading straight in?" he panted, his brows furrowed.

"We've got time, Bradley," Alex responded as he practically drifted towards the school, not out of breath at all.

"We're going to be late."

"We're never late."

"Not to class."

Alex looked over with a single raised eyebrow. "You want to speed up?"

"Hell no! I've literally just been mountain biking! Gimme a break!"

Alex laughed as he sped up a little, forcing Bradley to speed up to keep up with him, and eventually the two were racing towards the school bike sheds, weaving in and out of walking students and eliciting yells and cries of, "Watch it!" from the occasional senior. Alex leapt off his bike as he approached his usual parking spot, grinning over at Bradley as he pulled into his a couple of rungs away and pulling out his bike chain and lock. It took him a few brief minutes to lock up his bike, and by the time he was done Bradley had already locked up his bike and was walking over to Alex, his face still red from exertion.

"Did you  _have_  to make me ride that fast?" the redhead complained.

Alex shrugged. "You're the one who said we'd be late," he responded as he turned to head into the main school, simply grinning at the muttered "British bastard" Bradley gave as he followed. The two headed up the main stairs to the building and quickly became part of the throng of students milling about and waiting for the day to start.

Had it been a few months ago, Alex would have outwardly looked how he felt – extremely uncomfortable at the constant close contact and the feeling of claustrophobia he got whenever he walked through the halls of the school building. The horrible feeling hadn't subsided as much, but he at least could walk around without feeling the need to hug the walls to get away from people.

He'd just reached his locker (which also, funnily enough, happened to be next to Bradley's) when a tap on his shoulder made him jump sky-high, and he spun quickly to see who had beckoned him without speaking. His eyes were wide when they landed on a small Latina girl – Estefania, another of the group, and the one who happened to be closest to Chrissy. She also had an older brother who hung out with the group – and despite the fact that he was friendly and treated Alex like any friend would, he thoroughly intimidated him.

"Essie," Alex breathed, trying to calm down his racing heart. "Jeez, you scared me."

"Why so jumpy today?" she asked with a laugh, a hint of her Hispanic accent lilting through. "Have you not had a good morning?"

He laughed a little as he composed himself. "Well, Sabina used the dog to wake me up again, so there's that."

"Maybe you should get up before she resorts to using the dog next time."

"I would, but she gets in trouble using the dog, so it's fun to hear her get in trouble."

Essie just shook her head, rolling her eyes at him but smiling all the same. "It's a wonder she puts up with you."

Alex just turned back to his locker, opening it so that he could grab his books. "It's a good thing she loves me, then."

"Who loves you, Alex?"

Alex jumped again, this time looking just past his locker door to see a familiar green-eyed brunette leaning on the locker next to his, a smirk on her face. Alex rolled his eyes at her, before turning back to grabbing the books he needed. "My sister, Chris."

"Oh, did she give you kisses?"

"No, she woke me up with a dog."

"There's sibling love for you."

He shut his locker door, hugging the books he needed to his chest as he attempted to open his bag with one hand. "Yeah, well, I'm in need of a friend right now." He muttered a thanks to Bradley when the other male held the bag up for him, allowing him to put his books in. As soon as his bag was zipped up, he grabbed it off his friend, slinging it onto his back.

"Are Abbie and the others in homeroom?" Bradley asked the girls as he got his own bag situated more comfortably on his back.

"Jaz was heading to the toilet last I saw," Essie responded with a shrug. "But the others should be in there. Let's go."

The other three nodded as the group of four headed down the hallways to their class, (almost) ready for the first day back after the weekend.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated: 05/04/2019
> 
> Here's the rewritten version of chapter 2, guys! Enjoy!

"Who are you texting?"

Alex looked up from his phone to see Chrissy watching him across the table, her eyes curious. He got this question pretty much every lunch period. And every day, he responded with the same answer.

"Just Tom."

Despite the fact that they were a whole ocean away from each other, Alex had somehow managed to get in touch with, and stay in touch with, his best friend from Brooklands, one person who'd been with him before and throughout everything; though, it had taken a good couple of months for Tom to actually start responding to him. Sure, Andrew understood him on a personal level, but that was nothing compared to the kind of support Tom was more than willing to give, and had given since he'd found out.

Still, no matter what he said about his best friend, Chrissy just got more and more curious.

"Is he even real?" she'd asked once, only to get a glare and an indignant huff from Alex, and the silent treatment for the rest of the day.

Alex couldn't really blame her, though. He had very few photos of his best friend on his phone, and if he did have any photos they were stuck up on the walls in his room, which only Sabina had been into. That didn't really help much with convincing people of Tom's existence. It would've been nice for people to believe him without him having to convince them, but his past was pretty much hidden from everyone – why would they believe him if he hadn't told them anything before?

Chrissy just raised her eyebrows at Alex's response, simply picking up one of her fries and popping it into her mouth. Alex could tell from the expression on her face that she wasn't done with the topic, but she'd let it slide for that moment. Pursing his lips, Alex focused on his phone again.

There were a few moments of silence, with Alex on his phone and Chrissy eating, before Alex decided to break it.

"Where do you think the others are?"

"Who exactly is Tom?"

Alex's eyes narrowed at the question in response to his own, and he gritted his teeth to stop himself from snapping at her. Even if Chrissy was a good friend, she could be very irritating at times, and knowing him for so long meant she knew what exactly made him tick.

In other words, at that moment in time she was being a downright  _pain_.

"I've already told you, he's my best friend."

"Then how come we've never spoken to him.

"Because he doesn't live here. I already told you."

"What about photos of him?"

"They're in my room."

"Huh. Really?"

"Yeah. And you've never been into my room, so you wouldn't have seen them."

Chrissy leaned forward and smirked at Alex. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"

Before Alex could say anything in response (which was probably a good thing, considering his face had started to go a bit red), their table was approached by Estefania and the ever-recognisable Bradley Hardy with his shock of bright red hair.

"Chrissy, are you making Alex mad again?" Essie asked as she moved to sit down beside her best friend, giving the fair-haired boy a sympathetic smile.

Chrissy snorted, grinning now. "Oh, come on. You know it's not hard to do that."

"But you also know that you  _shouldn't_."

Bradley patted Alex's shoulder lightly, missing the slight flinch the other boy gave at the sudden contact. "Hey, ignore her, buddy. She always does this. You know that."

Alex scowled childishly, just about resisting the urge to huff at that. Of course he knew – he'd known about this side of Chrissy from the moment he'd met her. She wasn't that difficult to read as an individual. He'd known that she could push buttons easily just from what he'd seen the first time he'd witnessed her mess with someone, when she'd been messing with Bradley. He just hadn't expected her to constantly test it on him until he snapped.

Essie sighed. "Chris, apologise."

Chrissy gave Essie an incredulous look. "What? Why?"

Essie rolled her eyes. "Do you really need an explanation of that?"

Chrissy stared at Estefania for a good few moments, attempting to gauge as to whether or not the girl was actually being serious, before narrowing her eyes at her. "What do you get out of this?"

Essie's jaw dropped. "What do you mean?"

"Well, obviously you gain something out of making me apologise to Alex."

"I'm not gaining anything from this!"

"Oh come on, there's no real reason for you to stand up for him."

"That's not—"

"Oh look, Sabina! It's your little brother and his little friends!" The group of four friends let their argument screech to a halt when they heard the new voice, none of them turning towards it. Simply because they all knew who it was without even needing to look.

The Pays twins were more simply known as the most popular pair in the school. Tall, graceful, with long legs and high cheekbones, the girls were the desire of (straight) males and the envy of females all throughout their school, and they were proud of it. That added to the fact that they were athletic and both on the cheerleading team made them incredibly popular, giving them the "right" to look down on anyone they didn't approve of.

It just so happened that Alex had earned his name at the top of that list simply by slating Cheryl's boyfriend for his terrible football playing style in his first week at the school. Not a great start for him.

Fortunately, Sabina wholeheartedly agreed with him on the sucky playing front, but only behind Cheryl's back because she needed to keep her spot on the cheerleading squad. Chrissy, on the other hand, agreed right to Cheryl's face, but she was a strong enough member of the cheerleading squad that she wouldn't dare risk getting rid of Chrissy without there being a serious backlash.

The Pays twins alone were the reason Essie hadn't even bothered to try for cheerleading.

All four teens at the table looked up when their "guests" were standing right by the table, and Alex locked eyes briefly with Sabina before moving on to the other females.

Of course, Cheryl and Lydia didn't travel alone. Aside from Sabina, their entourage consisted of at least three other girls, including Sabina's most recent best friend – Macy. Macy was hands down Alex's favourite of the squad (not that they set high enough "like" bars anyway); always quirky, with her dark hair up in a bun and her glasses perched on her nose, she was the oddball of the squad, but it was pretty certain that she was talented and had an ability not many of the other cheerleaders shared.

It was Chrissy, the group's resident cheerleader, that spoke up.

"For what reason are we graced with your presences, your highnesses?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. If it weren't for the fact that they were sat right in front of the pair Chrissy was aiming her words at, Alex would've outright laughed at her words. As it was, he settled for a steely expression to hide his laughter.

"We just wanted to make sure Sabina's dearest little brother was doing well," Lydia said in an almost sickly-sweet, falsetto voice. It was easy enough to see that that was an outright lie, and Alex was almost certain they were only there to make sure they knew where he was in case they needed to blame something on him. It wasn't as if they hadn't done that before.

"I'm very well, thank you," Alex responded calmly, a very fake smile on his face. The elbow he earned from Bradley did nothing to deter it.

"That's good," Lydia chimed, returning the fake smile with one of her own.

"I'm sure you'll be just fine staying in here, right?" Cheryl asked, though it seemed to be more of a command than a suggestion. When the smile melted off Alex's face, she smiled even wider. "Remember, Alex, the field is off-limits to anyone not on any of the teams."

The mocking would've made Alex angrier if it weren't for the fact that he could see Sabina watching him, warning him not to do anything stupid with her eyes. He clenched his hands into fists on his lap.

He hated bullies. He hated them more when he couldn't beat them at their own game.

Watching them walk off, Alex only unclenched his fists when he felt Bradley's hand on his shoulder.

"What bitches," Chrissy muttered, her eyes narrowed. Essie gave a nod of agreement, though her eyes were focused on Alex.

"Are you okay?" she asked him softly.

"I just don't get why Sabina hangs out with them," Alex grumbled sourly. "I see no benefit  _whatsoever_."

"Well, think about it this way," Bradley started, squeezing Alex's shoulder lightly before letting go. "In about a week, you won't be seeing them for weeks because of Spring Break. Soon you'll be free of their tyranny."

"That's only a temporary solution to the problem," Alex pointed out. "They'll be back to make me suffer after Spring Break."

"Why don't you just join the soccer team and make them eat their words?" Chrissy asked with a frown. "You said you used to play soccer as a kid, right? You could probably whoop the whole team's ass. They suck."

"Thank you for the compliment." A male sat down at the table, beside Essie, with a cheeky grin on his face. He looked so similar to Essie that it was very clear that they were Siblings, though it was a little more difficult to tell who was older. He set down a wrapped burrito on the table and began to open it.

"I was just being honest," Chrissy argued with a pout.

"No, seriously, thanks. Saying they suck is a compliment for what they actually do." He took a bite of his lunch. "Those assholes couldn't kick a ball if their lives depended on it. They suck balls."

"Then how is the team still popular, José?" Bradley asked, a single eyebrow raised.

"Because they throw epic house parties." José paused for a moment, his eyes widening, before he turned towards Chrissy. "Oh! That reminds me. You're required to turn up this Saturday."

"What?" Chrissy whined.

"As a pyramid member, you actually need to turn up to social events, Chris."

"Except they all suck, and I don't want to be at a sucky party."

"I'll be there."

"That makes it no better, José."

Alex turned back to focusing on his phone, his eyes glued to the screen as his fingers flew over the keyboard. As entertaining as it was to listen to Chrissy whine about having to go to a house party with people she hated, Alex had more important things to think about. Like how Spring Break was rapidly approaching, and he might finally be able to convince Sabina that they should take a trip to London – if only so that he can see Tom in person.

The only problem was, he had a very good idea of what her answer would be.

And considering Tom's parents had recently gone through with their messy divorce, the other male had no money to get to the States to visit Alex instead. Still, that didn't mean the break would be completely boring. After all, he could always fly to Virginia for a week...

"You know, you really should join the soccer team."

Alex looked up sharply to see Essie staring at him, her dark eyes intense. Being a feisty girl of a Latino descent, Alex knew not to get on her bad side – when those dark eyes hardened, they tended to be terrifying.

Thinking on her question briefly, he focused on his phone again. "Nah, I don't think so."

A hand suddenly appeared on top of the phone screen, blocking off the distraction and forcing Alex to look at Essie again. Not a stern expression, but certainly a serious one.

"I'm not kidding, Alex. You're more than good enough to make it into the team, without even trying."

"I'm really not that great..."

"Don't try to lie to me. I've watched you play before. Even your casual kick-abouts are to a higher standard than the way our team plays."

Alex pursed his lips, thinking. Whilst Essie had a good point, he didn't want to go and waste all that energy – energy he could be focusing into his therapy sessions, which were finally doing some good. Energy he really didn't have to spare if he was having a bad day and didn't have the patience to deal with people.

"I'll think about it," Alex finally conceded, pushing Essie's hand off his phone. When she moved to cheer, his brows furrowed. "That doesn't mean I'm definitely going to do it. I just said I'd think about it. There's a difference."

"Then think faster," Essie teased with a grin, finally moving to unwrap her own burrito for lunch.

Alex rolled her eyes at her, though he couldn't help the small smile on his face as he finally set his phone down and began to dig into his cafeteria meal of a hot dog and fries.

* * *

Alex's bedroom door opened with a groan, the fair-haired teen stumbling through it and tossing his bag to the side before flopping face-down onto the bed.

The day had been, simply put, draining. Too much work and not enough energy led to Alex losing focus rapidly, and combining that with a speedy cycle to the therapist rather than asking for a lift into the city centre from José made him even more exhausted than usual.

Still, he thought as he pushed himself off the bed, there was a lot to do, starting with the reading for Literature that they were going to do an essay for over spring break.

Mr Rosenhoff, despite being a nice teacher, gave the worst pieces of homework at times. He wasn't as bad as his maths or physics teachers, but he could be horrid if his instructions weren't followed. Alex almost didn't care enough to get up and start on the reading so that he could get around to doing that biology homework he should've done over the weekend.

Almost.

Pushing himself to his feet, he let out an audible groan when he heard the knock on the door. "Come in," he called out. Turning around, he wasn't surprised to see Sabina stood at the door, a frown on her face and her arms folded. There was silence between the two as they both waited for the other to speak, and eventually it was Sabina who caved.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you always push them?"

Alex tensed. He knew exactly who she was talking about, and he also knew that if the conversation went on for much longer he would lose his temper.

"I don't push them."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really." He scowled at her. "I don't walk around  _asking_  to get picked on. I stand my ground, give my opinion, and walk away. If they decide to follow me because they're pissed at what I say, that's not my problem."

"Well it sure is mine." She stepped further into the room, approaching Alex. "I'm not victim-blaming here, but you're just as much at fault for this situation as—"

"Just because I told someone what they were playing wasn't  _real_  football?" he snapped, glaring at her. Breathing in slowly, he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them to look at her. "Look, everyone knows that they suck. All I did was voice what everyone was thinking. Just because the status quo says we should keep hailing them for the heroes they're really not, doesn't mean we actually should, okay?"

Sabina stayed silent, seemingly contemplating what he said, before she gave her response. "Even if you were to come to the party they're throwing this weekend?"

"I wasn't invited."

"Well, you are now."

"I thought you were going with your boyfriend?" Alex certainly hadn't intended to sound bitter, but the scowl that appeared on Sabina's face told him he hadn't quite succeeded at that.

"I am. Chrissy needs someone to go with."

"What about Essie?"

Sabina scoffed. "You really think José would let her come to one of the Soccer team's parties? Not a chance. That boy would protect his sister with his car  _and_  his life."

Alex had to admit, that was very true. He couldn't remember a situation where José hadn't run to his sister's rescue as soon as he heard she needed help, and the guy always sat with them at lunch,  _next_  to Essie. It was heart-warming to see that he cared to much, but also a little weird to see that he didn't really let her breathe.

"So… it's got to be me?"

"Do you really think any of the others would feel good at a party?"

Alex didn't even need to think to answer that. Whilst Essie was constantly under the watchful eye of her brother, Bradley was too socially awkward to be thrown into such a situation. Abbie's parents would lock her in her room at the mention of "party", and everyone knew Jasleen would rather spend time in the library than at a social gathering of any sort.

He was literally the only option left.

Sabina seemed to realise that he'd realised this, because her eyes brightened even before he said, "What time's the party?"


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually completed this update on 10/03/2019, but I forgot to post it, lol.  
> Enjoy!

"Wow, I guess you really can clean up good."

Alex opened his eyes and looked over at Sabina, his hands freezing as they ran gel through his hair to style it. He knew for a fact that he looked crazy styling his hair without a mirror, but being on the verge of a panic attack at the mere thought of having to style his hair in the mirror after the nightmare he'd had the night before meant he had to go from muscle memory.

Though, according to Sabina's compliment, muscle-memory seemed to be doing well.

"Need some help with your hair?"

Or not.

"If you've just come to comment on my appearance, I'm telling you now that your opinion is not needed," Alex quipped, closing his eyes again and attempting to work out where exactly he was going wrong. His hair certainly didn't  _feel_  out of place…

There were a few moments of silence from Sabina by the door, before a snort emerged. "Fine. If you don't want my help, I won't give it to you."

"I never asked for it in the first place."

"Don't be an ass."

"It's  _arse_. And I'm not." He opened his eyes to look over at her. "I never even asked to go to this party in the first place. I don't like many people in small spaces."

The irritated expression that had formed on Sabina's face softened, and she sighed, entering the room and sitting next to Alex, helping him out with his hair anyway. "Look… I'm sorry about your predicament, okay? It's just… the cheerleading team won't leave me alone. They keep going on about you. I just want to show them that you're  _way_  better than they think you are."

Alex let his hands fall to his lap as her fingers moved his hair about. "And I have to go to a party to prove it?"

Sabina stayed silent, opting not to answer that one. A few moments longer, and she'd finished styling Alex's hair, sitting back to admire her handiwork. "I really appreciate you doing this for me."

He raised an eyebrow. "I thought I was doing this for Chrissy?"

"I'm saying it on behalf of both of us, because I know for a fact that she won't say it to you out of pride."

A small grin grew on Alex's face. Sabina was definitely right about that.

"You all ready to go, then?"

"Just need to grab and check a few things, then I'll be down."

Sabina nodded, standing from the bed and heading towards the door. "I'll call up when Chrissy gets here. Should be in about ten minutes. Be quick, okay?"

Alex nodded, watching her as she left his room, before moving over to his desk to turn on his laptop. A gift from Edward upon entry into the Pleasure family, Alex found himself only using the semi-portable device to do research for homework or the occasional private Skype call. The family PC downstairs was a lot closer to the WiFi router and had a lot more processing power, making it easier for Alex to do things such as play video games on it. Not what it was for, but he used it for that anyway.

Not expecting many notifications once the device booted up, Alex was surprised to be alerted almost immediately by a Skype call. From Tom.

He hadn't arranged to Skype him that evening.

Accepting the video call, Alex grinned as his long-time best friend's screen-illuminated face popped up on the screen, accentuated by a night-dark background. "Hey, Tom."

" _Hey Al—hold up. What's got you all dolled up?_ "

Alex rolled his eyes at his friend's perception. At times, Tom could be the most obvious, but also most forgetful, of people. "Remember that party I told you about?"

" _The one you're being forcibly made to attend?_ "

"Yeah, that one."

" _Oh…_ "

Alex brows furrowed. "What, is something wrong?"

A grin appeared on Tom's face on the screen, alerting Alex almost immediately that he was going to try and irritate him. He didn't disappoint. " _You look like a right mug._ "

Alex scowled. "Fuck off."

" _Nah, I'm good._ "

Alex shook his head, only allowing a small smile on his face to show his amusement. Leaning forward onto his desk, he asked, "What's got you calling me at this time, anyway? I thought it was, like, 3 a.m. over there?"

" _4.30, actually._ " Tom let out a sigh, the smile fading from his face. " _I don't know. I just… couldn't sleep. You know, with the house only half full. Even though it's quieter._ "

Alex understood that. After Ian had died, the house had felt pretty empty, despite the fact that he was often gone on "business trips". Whilst Tom's predicament wasn't quite the same, his mother kicking his dad out after the divorce would certainly have made the place that little bit emptier. "You need to talk about it?"

" _I… not really, I don't think. I don't know. Jerry won't come home because of it. And mum's already found a new guy. He's staying the night._ "

"Oh?"

" _Yeah. That's why I woke up, actually. I thought I heard him moving downstairs._ "

"Well, he's just a guest, right?"

" _Right… but I don't like him. I can't pinpoint why. Maybe it's just because he's dating mum._ "

Alex knew that if this had been a year and a half or so ago, he'd have gone to investigate the guy straight away. Being exposed to the spy world, albeit indirectly, meant that Alex could trust Tom's judgement on character a lot more than most people's. But maybe, in his eyes, Tom was being a little paranoid now. After all, no kid wanted a new parent like this. "It probably is."

Before Tom could speak, there was a loud knock on Alex's door, and he turned to see Sabina stood there, a frown on her face. "Seriously? A Skype call? Now? Chrissy's here and we need to go!"

"I'm just talking to Tom."

Tom waved, his bright screen lighting up the grin on his face. " _Hi Sabina!_ "

Sabina rolled her eyes, sighing. "Hi, Tom."

Alex turned back to Tom, a regretful expression on his features. "Sorry, mate…"

" _Nah, it's fine. Really._ " Tom waved off the apology with a smile. " _I'll live. It's just a bit of paranoia, right?_ "

Hearing Tom say that put an uneasy feeling in Alex's gut. He felt guilty for leaving his best friend like that, awake at night and seemingly too anxious to sleep (he'd heard the wavering in Tom's voice, and didn't miss how he'd been picking his nails at the bottom of the screen – the boy was a nervous wreck). And he didn't miss the saddened look in Tom's eyes, even if he had a smile on his face. But at the same time, Chrissy needed him. There was no way she'd survive that party without someone there to give her moral support.

"I'll call you after the party, though. At a time more reasonable for you," Alex offered, a hopeful half-smile on his face.

Tom snorted. " _By the looks of things, a time more reasonable for me would be ungodly for you._ "

Alex get out a snort at that. "You'd think."

" _I bloody **know**._" Tom's eyes flitted to something over Alex shoulder (most likely Sabina), before he smiled. " _Go on, then. I'll talk to you later._ "

Alex sent his friend a quick smile. "Talk later, Tom." After the brief farewell, Alex ended the call, closing his laptop and turning to face Sabina. "We're going now?"

"Yep. Come on."

Alex sighed as he pushed himself to his feet, following Sabina downstairs to where Chrissy was waiting.

* * *

"I still don't get why I wasn't allowed to come up and see that Tom guy Alex keeps going on about."

It was getting harder and hard to ignore Chrissy and her constant complaining. Other than the fact that she couldn't just take Alex's word and be done with it, she constantly asked questions and pestered. One would think Alex would've gotten used to it after dealing with her for about six months, but in reality his patience had just got worse and worse.

"There is a reason," Sabina pointed out calmly. "You just don't need to know it."

"But  _why_?"

"Because it's my life," Alex cut in, the sharpness of his tone betraying his irritation. Sabina shot him a look, but he didn't back down until he noticed Chrissy had gone quiet.

The three continued in near silence until they reached their final destination: The house party. Apparently one of the players' parents were away for the weekend, leaving the house free for a party. Or destruction, which was what Alex saw it as.

Hesitating at the sight of already tipsy teenagers leaning out of windows and running across the lawn, he closed his eyes and sighed. He'd never been allowed to go to house parties whilst Ian was around, and even after he'd gone, he'd found no need to go to them. And now he understood why.

 _Imagine this, but in a country where the age of drinking consent is a whole lot lower._  Alex shuddered at the thought.

House parties in Britain must be hell.

"Do we have to go in?" Chrissy asked, voicing exactly what was on Alex's mind. From the look on her face, she seemed just as reluctant to deal with whatever was going on in there as he did.

Sabina pursed her lips. "You guys at least have to show face."

"The problem is, they don't want to  _see_  mine," Alex point out.

"You're both coming in, whether you like it or not."

"Can we leave once we see the captains?" Chrissy asked.

Sabina turned to walk towards the house. "You can leave once they see  _you_ ," she retorted, leaving the other two with no choice but to follow.

If the house party had looked horrifying from a distance, it looked like absolute hell up close. Alex was pretty sure he spotted at least half a dozen pieces of china out on the lawn, broken to pieces, followed by what seemed to be some beautifully broken crystal glasses (they'd probably been part of a set) and a good couple of photo frames, the photos themselves either ripped by the broken glass or sat separately and soggy on the grass. He all of a sudden didn't want to be associated with this place if the police came knocking.

He was startled out of his scrutiny of the building by Chrissy latching onto him, her eyes focused on their path ahead. Following her gaze, he completely understood why she didn't want to let go.

They were approaching the barrage of dancing, sweaty bodies inside the house.

This felt like a nightmare to Alex.

The only thing stopping him from turning away was the sight of Sabina up ahead, who regularly turned to look over her shoulder and beckon the two on. If he just left now, before even trying, he'd never hear the end of it from her.

A light squeeze to his arm reminded Alex that Chrissy was still there, holding on for dear life, and he took a deep breath before plunging in after Sabina, attempting to follow her through the crowd.

The pounding music was what got to him, just before the feeling of claustrophobia. The multiple sweaty bodies pushing against him as he found his way through with Chrissy on his arm made him want to scream, and the smell of alcohol on almost everyone's breath just made it worse. Still, he could see Sabina up ahead, and it wasn't long before they'd passed through the crowd and exited on the other side of the house, into the backyard.

The backyard was significantly quieter, cooler, and easier to breathe in than the house was, and he couldn't help but agree with Chrissy when she gasped for air dramatically. Being out there was far better than in the house.

Then he looked around, and began to reconsider his opinion. There were fewer people, yes, but somehow all the people who'd decided it was their job to make Alex's life at high school a living hell were gathered there, laughing and drinking.

Drunk people could be nicer than the originals. But they could also be worse. And Alex didn't know what to anticipate.

Following Sabina, he hovered not too far from where she  _lovingly_  greeted her boyfriend – and he resisted the urge to hurl.

"If I ever get a boyfriend, kick me when I do that," Chrissy muttered from where she was practically glued to Alex's side, lowly enough so that only he could hear.

"That's a big 'If'," Alex muttered to her in reply, resisting the urge to grin when Chrissy punched him in the arm.

Apparently their little interaction had caught the attentions of onlookers, because less than a moment later, there was a croon of, "Christina!"

Chrissy grimaced, and Alex immediately understood why. Anyone who was friends with Chrissy knew that no one called her by her full name unless they were one of her many stuck up great aunts from Surrey, England. Heck, even her cousin from Kent called her "Chris". Anyone who called her Christina had to be out of their mind.

So basically the whole cheerleading squad (save for Sabina, who actually had some sense in that brain of hers).

Alex was pretty sure they called her by full name to put her in her place. Though Alex wasn't sure how well they were doing at that since Chrissy was still ridiculously rebellious when it came to cheerleading and practices. In fact, he was pretty sure she only came today because there was some sort of threat to take her off the team if she didn't comply.

Forcing a smile on her face, the girl moved so that the team could see her fully, rather than half-hiding behind Alex (who they hadn't commented on yet, surprisingly). "Yes, 'tis I. Christina.  _Chrissy_ , if you will."

Alex had to hide his grin at the not-so-subtle hint, but all that got from the team were giggles and numerous calls for her to join them. Rolling her eyes, Chrissy moved towards the team, still hanging onto Alex arm.

The male stood his ground.

"Oh no, you're not letting me head over there alone," Chrissy threatened, still trying to pull Alex over.

He rolled his eyes at her. "They haven't called me over. I refuse."

" _Hey! Bring over the cripple whilst you're at it!_ "

At that, Alex tensed.

Following the events of the previous summer, Alex had spent the first five or so months at his new high school hobbling about on crutches. As if being awkward and new wasn't bad enough, he endured his first month being called "the cripple" by any senior with no heart. The fact that he was clumsy with his books and needed near constant help to carry his stuff whilst he got used to moving about in a new environment didn't help one bit, and he'd ended up spending most of his free time cooped up in the library, just studying. Even after he'd met Chrissy (but before she'd forcibly dragged him out to chill elsewhere, with real people instead of his study notes).

The point still stood that Alex didn't appreciate that nickname at all unless he was using it to refer to himself (which he didn't do often), and he was very much ready to turn around and walk out of there. He'd met Sabina's request – the team had seen him. He could leave if he wanted to.

"Ignore them, Alex. They're not sober."

Alex pursed his lips at Chrissy. "That makes it worse. They're insulting me without a filter."

Chrissy scowled a little at that. "And when has that ever stopped you before?"

Alex hesitated. She had a point, but… "This isn't school. The position isn't defendable."

"The position is perfectly defendable if you're looking from the right angle."

Alex raised a single eyebrow, his lips twitching as he repressed a smirk. "And what angle does that happen to be?"

Spotting the twitch, Chrissy had the decency to blush. "Why you little—"

" _Christina!_ " came the croon from the group, and this time Chrissy didn't hesitate before dragging Alex along, ignoring his yelps and protests as she did so. Alex had agreed to accompany her to this party, so the way she saw it, she was going to make sure he accompanied her down to the last word.

Something Alex quickly realised he should have expected the moment he agreed to attend with her.

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Quit your whining, asshats!"


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated: 24/05/2019
> 
> Enjoy!

"I don't think I'll ever go to a house party again."

Alex muttered a quiet agreement, glancing over at Chrissy.

The two managed to spend a good hour at the party before they'd finally had enough and started to leave. Well, it was less than an hour. More like 45 minutes, and Alex had got tired of the constant jabs within the first 10, but he'd put up with it for Chrissy's sake. He hadn't realised she'd wanted to go after the first 20. Still, the both of them had spent the entire time sitting there, watching the others interact and attempting to strike up a conversation that didn't involve constant mocking. It was pretty fortunate that José was there, meaning that Alex managed to have a relatively good chat with him about possibly joining the football team before he was dragged away by some horny cheerleader, leaving Alex to suffer alone at the hands of the soccer team.

José would never hear the end of it, that was for sure.

Sabina had probably realised when the two were more than ready to leave, and had sent Alex a subtle nod as some sort of, "Yes, this has been acceptable, you may leave".

The pair had practically high-tailed it out of there.

Considering the party had been only a couple of blocks over from where Alex lived, which was in the opposite direction of the school to where Chrissy lived, the male deemed it appropriate to walk her home – even if she protested about it. His excuse of, "I'd be bored with nothing to do if I went home now," was considered a flat out lie by her (which was true, considering Tom would probably still be up and ready for a chat if Alex called him).

Still, as they walked through the dark streets that surrounded their school, heading towards her place, Alex could tell that she appreciated it. Even if she didn't verbally express it.

Alex was started out of his thoughts when he realised Chrissy was veering off the main roads, heading for an alley off to the side. "Hey, wait!" When she stopped and turned to face him, he frowned. "Where are you going?"

"Shortcut."

"Down a dark alley?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "I always take this route. It's safe, don't worry."

"In the dark?"

She huffed. "Well, if you don't want to walk me home and would rather go back to your own safe bed…"

"Fine, fine." He moved to follow her down the alley, jogging a few steps to catch up. "Just so you know, I don't condone this, and if José or Bradley find out…"

"There's nothing they can do about it when they don't live anywhere near me."

Alex wanted to argue that there very much was, considering José owned a car, and Bradley was all about chivalry, but decided it was probably wiser of him to remain quiet on this one, and just let Chrissy do what she wanted. If he didn't, it was likely that she'd just run off without him, and he wouldn't hear from her until days later because she'd be in a stroppy mood. The fact that they were entering into Spring Break would just make it worse.

The two walked in relative silence through the alley, neither of them wanting to talk until they were under the safety of streetlamps again. They were about halfway down when Alex felt a tingling at the back of his neck.

The teen froze. He hadn't had that feeling for months. The feeling of someone watching.

Chrissy turned just in time to see him looking over his shoulder. "What's wrong?" she asked, on edge simply because he was.

"I think someone's there," he replied after a few moments of silence, his eyes darting around the darkened space for any hint of what he'd been feeling.

Feeling jittery, Chrissy took her own glance around the dark space, though she wasn't seeing anything. "You're getting paranoid. Are you afraid of the dark?"

"Well, honestly, I'm not all that fond of alleys," he fired back defensively, unable to shake the feeling that there was someone there following them. When he didn't see anything to support the feeling, though, he grit his teeth. "Keep moving, then."

Chrissy scowled. "Quit letting out your frustrations on me."

"Sorry, I tend to react this way when people call me  _paranoid_."

"That's because you  _are_. You must be  _incredibly_  stupid if you think something's actually—" Chrissy angry rant was cut off with a scream as Alex was suddenly tackled to the ground, and the girl tripped over her own two feet trying to scramble away from the grappling bodies. It didn't take Alex long at all to shove the figure off, his eyes wide as he attempted to scramble to his feet. Okay, so maybe he hadn't expected to be  _right_. But that man had suddenly come out of nowhere and gone for  _him_. Why was he the target? Because he was bigger?

Watching the figure push themselves to their feet, Alex analysed them as he backed up towards Chrissy in a defensive position.

Male. Looked kind of young, but looks could be deceiving. Probably in his late twenties. About average height, and most likely athletically built under his baggy clothes. Heck, he looked like any old haggard man you'd see on the street.

Those people tended to beg for money, not attack someone for it.

Was this guy a even normal beggar?

Narrowing his eyes, he watched as the man pushed himself to his feet, his glare focused harshly on Alex. Alex had no idea why he was being aimed for, but he did know one thing – this wasn't an ordinary beggar, but he was most definitely more than a mugger if he was coming back for them.

Or rather,  _him_.

"Get out of here," Alex murmured, directing his words at Chrissy. "Get out of here and run. Go home."

The words Chrissy said next made Alex want to punch her.

"No. I'm not leaving you here."

Alex glanced at her incredulously. "We are  _literally_  getting attacked."

She scoffed. "I'm not letting you get attacked  _alone_ , idiot."

Alex would have responded had it not been for the fact that there was a man trying to attack him for a reason he had yet to determine. Or, rather, there was a reason that he had lingering at the back of his mind, but he was desperately trying to ignore it in favour of keeping his sanity.

He had barely managed to get himself into a more defensive stance when the man lunged at him again, the teen dodging to get his body out of the way of the incoming punch. A glint in the light he spotted on the fist almost made him freeze.

This guy didn't want anything like money. He wanted to  _spill blood_.

"Chrissy, get  _out of here_ ," Alex urged, the panic beginning to build. Someone was going to get hurt, and he'd be damned if he let that hurt person be Chrissy. "Get somewhere safe!  _Please_!"

Before he could hear her replies (which were likely to be whines about how she wasn't leaving him there), he was forced to dodge another knife attack, this time the knife clear to see and not hidden in his clenched fist. Stumbling back, he began to lead the man further into the alley, away from where Chrissy stood in an attempt to keep her safe. There was no way he was putting her in harm's way.

The man had a snarl on his face as he stalked after Alex, the knife clearly visible, and Alex got the distinct feeling that the man didn't just want to spill his blood – he wanted him  _dead_. And it was a feeling he'd felt far too many times for his age, even though it had been a while since he'd last had it. At the back of his mind, he recalled how he was still physically recovering from last summer, but he felt as if surviving at that moment in time was more important than the possibility of aggravating his injury and irritating his physio.

He jumped to the side again as the man lunged at him with the knife, his arms up to allow an easier dodge. The near-constant growl from the man made him aware that he was going to lunge again, and Alex prepared himself for the attack. Ducking down as soon as the knife came at him, the teen lunged in himself, punching the man in the stomach with as much force as he could muster before jumping out of the way before the man could bring his arm down to hit him. Getting himself into a defensive position, he watched the now winded man attempt to recover, still glaring darkly at Alex.

Alex glared right back.

The man took a moment to recover, before beginning to approach Alex again. The slight change in stance was quickly noticed by Alex, and the teen immediately began to bounce on the balls of his feet. The man knew he had been sloppy before. The real fight was just beginning.

Dodging another lunge, Alex fully expected the swing of the knife that allowed it to come towards him instead of straight past, and he ducked again, jabbing at the man's side before quickly rising and hitting him in the side of the head, throwing the man off-balance. Alex took advantage of this and attempted to kick the man in the back, but he didn't expect the man to switch the hand holding the knife and spin, using his original knife hand to grab his leg and smack it hard with the hilt of the knife, making Alex cry out.

His physio was going to kill him.

He was thrown back as the man pushed his leg away, making Alex stumble back into a dumpster and land on the ground. There was definitely going to be a bruise on his leg, but from what he could tell it wasn't broken. Still, that might just be the adrenaline talking.

Blinking heavily, he didn't notice that the man had now approached him and was standing right above him until he noticed the knife in the air, rushing down towards him. He just about managed to roll and dodge it, the metal giving him a shallow cut in his arm as he moved, and began scooting away as quickly as he could. The man only had to take a couple of steps to catch up to him and corner him again, raising his arm for another strike.

Suddenly, the knife dropped from his hand, and the man gave a pained hiss. Alex looked past him with wide eyes to see Chrissy stood behind the man, an old, rusty pole in her hands. She glared at the man as he turned to glare at her before swinging the cylinder of metal at him again, this time catching his shoulder.

"Stay  _away_  from him!"

The man staggered a few steps, before catching the pole as Chrissy swung it again and pulling it out of her hands. He tossed it to the side carelessly, before backhanding her sharply, making her stumble back and land on her back, hitting her head against the ground and stunning her. He appeared to contemplate what to do with her, before realising she likely wouldn't move for a while and turning back to Alex, who was trying to scoot away. The teen's eyes widened as the predator approached him, still scooting away as quickly as he could, stopping with a yelp as his foot was stepped on, holding him in place. His eyes went wide as the man kneeled down, knees on either side of Alex's torso as he moved his hands towards the teen's throat.

Alex began to panic as he felt the hands tighten around his throat. Being right about the fact that the man wanted to kill him was not something he wanted to be proud of – and being unable to fight him off and protect Chrissy like he would have had it been a year or so before just made him feel even worse about this whole situation. He could hear Chrissy calling his name but was so busy focusing on not getting suffocated by the man on top of him that he couldn't respond.

A sudden clang – sounding very much like a metal pole hitting a bone – sounded, and the hands around Alex's throat loosened enough for him to push them off and take a deep breath, attempting to scoot away. Unfortunately, it seemed that the man's concentration only lapsed for a couple of moments, because his hands were back at Alex's throat again before he could fully recover, and Chrissy had somehow stopped attacking. The teen began to scratch at the hands that seemed to be more tightly around his throat this time around.

That was when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glint in what little light was coming into the alley, and he realised that the knife the man had dropped earlier was still there, and probably within arm's reach. Letting go with one arm, Alex began to reach for the knife, slowly realising that the lack of oxygen reaching his lungs was making him dizzy.

As soon as his fingers wrapped around the hilt, everything was a blur until he realised he could breathe again, and the man was lying off to the side, trying to stop the bleeding around the knife embedded in his stomach. Alex breathed heavily, the speed at which the air moved through his throat reminding him of how sore it was going to be the next day.

"Alex!" Chrissy ran over to him, kneeling beside him. "Oh my God, Alex, oh my God! Are you okay? Of course, you're not really, but are you?!"

Before he could answer, the sound of sirens and the beams of red and blue flashing lights lit up the alley, and Alex looked around to see that there were police cars blocking off either ends of the alley, police men entering the alleyway with their guns at their hips. Chrissy stood quickly as soon as she saw them, and Alex took a deep breath before slowly beginning to push himself to his feet.

"Good evening, officers," Chrissy greeted with a practiced ease. "How can we help you?"

"We got called about an alley commotion," one of them commented, seemingly relaxing at the sight of the girl whilst his partners remained on edge. "Something about a fight?"

Considering neither Alex nor Chrissy had made the call, and that no one had passed through the alley at any point from what Alex could remember, the teens should have been suspicious. But they were tired from both the house party and the fight, and just wanted it to all be over and done with.

"Some guy tried to mug us," Chrissy answered for herself and Alex, and the police officers glanced at the teen. Looking exhausted, haggard and sweaty, it wasn't difficult to see that Alex had been involved in some sort of altercation, and a mugging seemed a plausible cause.

"Are you two okay?" another officer asked, looking both teens up and down.

"Yeah," Alex rasped out, wincing a little. When they gave him confused looks, he responded, "Sorry, sore throat. Recovering from a cold," he lied. He didn't really want them to know that their attacker had almost strangled him to death.

The officers, though they still appeared to be a bit doubtful, took Alex's excuse for the sore throat. "We'll we're just gonna have a look around the alley, just in case."

The teens glanced at each other, looking almost nervous. They knew what the officers would find if they looked, but they also knew that if they stopped the officers then they would get suspicious and would look anyway. Unless the officers got them, there was no way they were getting out of the situation.

They had to tell the truth.

"It was self-defence," Alex explained quickly, which caused the officers to give him a quizzical look.

"What?" one of them asked, whilst the others began to search for what Alex was talking about. There was only one reason anyone would ever speak about self-defence anywhere outside of a class, especially to an officer of the law.

It took a few moments, but eventually there was a cry, and suddenly all guns were pointing at the teens.

"Keep your hands where we can see them!"

"It was self-defence!" Alex protested, though he put his hands up so that he wouldn't get needlessly shot. Chrissy did the same, her eyes wide as she stared at Alex, watching him get arrested.

"We didn't even do anything  _wrong_!" she protested as his hands were pulled down and cuffed behind his back. "This isn't the law! Let him go!"

"There's a man with a knife in his stomach," an officer pointed out, as another called for the paramedics. Chrissy scoffed.

"That would be Alex if he hadn't  _fought back_!" Chrissy grabbed Alex's arm as he was guided away. "Tell them it was self-defence. It wasn't done in anger! You just didn't want to die!"

" _You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law._ "

Chrissy looked Alex in the eyes. "Tell them the truth, Alex. Make them believe you! You can't go to jail like this!"

Alex stared back at her, determination in his eyes. "I promise, I will. I can't promise that it'll get me out of this, but I will. I swear."

And with that, Alex was pulled out of the grip of the girl and carted towards the nearest police car, only managing to share a wistful look with Chrissy before he was forced to sit down and the door was shut behind him. The windows to the car were tinted, but Chrissy could imagine Alex was sitting there with a scowl on his face – the usual expression he had when something wasn't going his way.

Chrissy grit her teeth, glaring at the police officers, before a sudden thought hit her. Alex was meant to be walking her home.

What was  _Sabina_  going to say about this?


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update completed on 06/06/2019, so I hope you guys all enjoy!  
> Read on!

Alex could only sit with his head on his arms as he waited for something, anything, to happen. He'd been sat in the interrogation room for what felt like hours – he hadn't even been placed in a holding cell – and no one had come to speak to him. Not a single officer. He'd just been placed in the room, and left to rot or stew or whatever they were doing to him to make him spill whatever guilty secrets they thought he was keeping.

Not that he wasn't keeping any. Just none that they needed to know.

So whilst he waited, he decided it would be a good idea to get a little shut-eye. After all, if he was going to be there for hours, he might as well be rested for when they needed to question him on anything. Though, from the feeling of swelling in and around his throat, he doubted he'd be able to answer any questions efficiently without sounding like a cheese grater on gravel and feeling like a cat was running its claws down his throat.

It felt like it had been hours before anyone actually attended to him, waking him up in the middle of his impromptu nap with the slam of a chair on the concrete flooring, causing Alex to sit up suddenly, scared and alert.

The man who walked into the room was short and stocky, the top button of his shirt unbuttoned and his jacket open. He shut the door gently behind him, before turning to face Alex and slowly walking back to the chair that he'd slammed on the floor, turning it and sitting on it backwards. He sat there for a good few minutes, staring at the teen, before he spoke.

"Alex Pleasure… or would you rather Alex  _Rider_?"

Alex tensed at that. From what he knew, his name had been changed as soon as the papers had been filed, and no one should have had access to those records. They were supposed to be  _sealed_.

"Who are you…?" Alex asked in a scratchy voice, very unsure about the current situation. If this man knew his name… then he might know something about his past. And anyone knowing about his past without his knowledge was never safe – not for him, and not for the people involved.

"FBI Special Agent Michaél Rodriguez, but you may be better off knowing me as Estefania's uncle."

That caused all colour to drain from Alex's face, and the man smirked.

"I suppose that has got your attention. Now," the man cleared his throat, "you have been brought in here because you killed a man, yes?"

"I didn't kill him," Alex protested, though his heart rate had quickened (and with it, he could feel his throat swelling up more). He hadn't actually killed the man, had he…?

"Okay, so you stabbed him and he has come out hospitalised but not dead," Rodriguez corrected. "That does not excuse the fact that you attacked a man."

"He attacked me  _first_ ," Alex protested again, sounding whiny and desperate because he knew he was innocent. He had done nothing wrong but defend himself. And he was being held against his will by a federal agent who also happened to be related to one of his closest friends and know some of the secrets he had tried desperately to hide.

Plus, he was tired. It was late. He just wanted his bed.

The agent raised his eyebrows. "You think I should believe that?"

"You think a sixteen-year-old would randomly attack a homeless man in an alley just before spring break?"

"You were coming home from a party."

"I didn't  _drink_." Alex huffed. "And I was walking  _Chrissy_  home. Because I wanted to avoid her getting caught in a situation like that. That man tried to kill me for no reason."

"That  _man_  was an undercover agent," Rodriguez pointed out lowly, "and would not attack without good reason. You, on the other hand, have a record—"

"Of what?" Alex cut in. "What do you have on me? My records are sealed and redacted for the most part. You shouldn't have anything on me."

Rodriguez went silent at that, and that was when Alex realised he'd made a mistake. Rodriguez didn't know about his past. He had no idea about his record. The man had been bluffing to get Alex in trouble.

A blank mask slid over the teen's face, and he leaned back in his seat, watching the agent coldly. He didn't like federal agents or people who worked for the government that much anyway, but one who was trying to manipulate him? Even if he was related to one of his friends?

That just did not sit well with Alex. He wasn't going to play his game.

"Are there files on you, Alex?"

The teen remained silent at the question, staring at the man coldly. (It sure helped his throat, that was for sure.)

Rodriguez's eyes narrowed. "If there are files on you, Alex, I will get them. You will not be able to hide them from me for long." When Alex continued to stare blankly, he slammed his hands down on the table. "You attacked a federal agent, are being questioned, and saying nothing?! Is this how you want to play it?"

Alex cracked his mask slightly to give a small smirk at the agent's outburst, which only angered the man more. The teen wasn't going to give him any more of what he wanted. Not if he was going to play it like this.

The FBI agent was about to start ranting at Alex again when there was a knock on the door, and it opened to reveal a young woman, appearing nervous.

"Uh, Agent Rodriguez… we have a slight problem…"

Rodriguez glared at her. "Is it more important than what I'm doing right now?"

"Uh… yes?"

"Can it wait?"

"No, not really."

"Then what is it?"

The young woman looked between Alex and the agent nervously, as if she wasn't sure whether to say what she was about to in front of the teen, before finally deciding it was okay to speak. "There is… a girl, sir. She's trying to bail him out."

Rodriguez stared at the woman, before turning to Alex with a smirk. "Deny her."

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't let her," Rodriguez repeated, turning to face the woman. "Deny her that ability. I'm questioning Alex for federal reasons." He turned back to Alex, thinking that was it.

It wasn't.

"There's a problem with that, sir…" the woman said nervously, before she moved out of the way to let someone else walk into the room.

A man in a crisp suit walked in slowly, straightening his tie. With his dark hair and bright blue eyes, Alex knew what kind of person he was before he even spoke, and his heart plummeted into his stomach.

He didn't need this. Not today, and certainly not this early in the morning.

"Agent Rodriguez?"

Rodriguez stood and turned to face the man, a deep frown set on his face. "I'm sorry, this is an active interrogation—"

The man ignored him as he continued speaking, pulling his badge out of his inner pocket to show to the man. "Agent Martins, CIA. I hear you're holding an individual under our protection hostage and I've come to collect him."

"You have no right—"

"He is under our jurisdiction and protection, and you have no right to question him without our knowledge." He gave Rodriguez a hard look. "Release him."

The FBI agent stared hard for a few minutes, trying to see if he could win this one. Eventually, though, he sighed, pulling the keys to the handcuffs out of his back pockets and approaching Alex. As he leaned down to unlock the cuffs, he glared at the teen.

"I will get you one day, Alex."

Alex just stared at him blankly as the cuffs were released, and he stood as soon as they were, rubbing his wrists. He didn't even spare Rodriguez a look as he calmly left the room, the CIA agent following him out into the corridor.

Within minutes, they'd reached the reception area of the precinct, and Alex couldn't ignore the stares he got from police officers and civilians – the civilians because he was being followed by someone that looked like a federal agent, and the officers because it was probably known that an FBI agent had questioned him and he was now being let go like he'd done nothing wrong. He had to admit, it looked suspicious to anyone not directly part of the situation.

His eyes, however, locked onto two females sat in the waiting area, and both of them brightened up when they saw him approach. As soon as he was close enough, Sabina stood and ran over to him, hugging him tightly.

"Oh, thank God you're okay," she breathed, giving him one last squeeze before punching him hard in the arm. "What the hell happened?!"

Alex winced, rubbing his arm before looking to Chrissy for help.

The other girl just shrugged, smiling. "Don't look at me like that. I'm just glad they let you go."

"About that…" Alex glanced over at the CIA agent, who had been trying not to draw any attention to himself. As soon as Alex looked over, though, the other two looked over at him too, and he sighed.

"I'm guessing you three need a lift home, right?" He checked his watch. "It's too late for you three to get a cab. My car is outside. Let's go."

The trio of teens shot each other glances before Eventually nodding in agreement, following the agent as they left the precinct and headed out into the night.

As soon as they got outside, though, he stopped, pointing towards a dark sedan with a FOB and unlocking the car.

"If you wouldn't mind letting me speak alone with Alex for a few moments…"

Chrissy frowned, opening her mouth to protest, but Sabina laying a hand on her shoulder and steering her towards the now unlocked car stopped any arguments that may have arisen. As soon as the two girls were out of earshot, the man turned to Alex with a stern expression on his face.

"That was a  _very_  close call, kid. You need to be more careful."

The teen was shocked momentarily at the sudden change in the agent's demeanour, before he glared at the man. "I was  _attacked_ ," Alex managed to choke out, looking very frustrated. "I didn't ask to get arrested and questioned by the FBI. I was literally forced to protect myself and my close friend from a psycho." He scowled. "I don't care whether he was a federal agent or not – he attacked  _me_  for no damn reason."

The CIA agent watched Alex closely for a few moments, observing his facial expressions, before eventually nodding. "Okay, okay. I'll look into it for you, kid. But we can't keep saving your ass like this."

"This is literally the first time you've done it."

"And hopefully it'll be the last." The agent stepped closer to the car and opened the door for Alex. "Don't make a habit out of it."

Alex glared at the man, pursing his lips, before giving in and getting into the car, sitting down beside Chrissy (who had placed herself in the middle). When she noticed Alex's stormy expression, she frowned.

"What was that all about?" she asked him in a hushed tone, raising an eyebrow when he apparently refused to answer and instead sat back in his seat, folding his arms and sulking. "Okay, then…"

* * *

"How did they even know to come for you?"

Alex shrugged as he slowly stirred the cereal around in his bowl, watching as it went soggy. It was a good day or so after the whole fiasco with the mugger and the FBI and CIA, and Alex felt absolutely drained. He didn't want to be dealing with federal agencies again – he'd made it half a year without having to deal with them, and he wasn't looking to get involved with them again any time soon. In fact, Edward and Liz hadn't been pleased at all when Alex and Sabina had returned in the early hours of the morning, a CIA agent in tow. It was only after an intense discussion of what had actually happened that Alex and Sabina had managed to avoid getting grounded, but that didn't mean their parents were okay with what had happened.

It wasn't even the lack of ability to speak with his swollen throat that got him down (even though he was taken to the hospital to deal with that – the doctors had advised soft foods and painkillers, with an ice pack on the bruise at regular intervals to help the swelling go down). It was more the fact that they were so disappointed in him that got Alex so down.

"Maybe they were alerted when the police tried to access my files, just like the FBI were?"

"They were probably more alerted when the FBI tried to access the files," Sabina muttered as she took a bite of her toast. "The police can't do much with the information. The FBI can."

"That's a fair point." He shoved a spoonful into his mouth, the fingers of his free hand tapping on the pack of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel on the table beside him. "Still sucks that I have to keep my eye out for them. They're assholes. And  _Essie's uncle_  was questioning me." He ran a slow hand over his face, stopping at the bruise on his neck. "He hates me."

"And that matters to you  _because_ …?" When he gave her a look, her eyes widened. "Oh."

He glared at her before he went back to stabbing at his bowl of food aimlessly. "Don't go on about it."

"I won't." Sabina smirked as she took another bite of her toast. "Just quickly, though – you're moving pretty slowly. At least, compared to with me."

"I said  _don't_."

"Alright, alright. I'll stop."

The two ate in comfortable silence as the conversation between them died down. It was the first Monday of Spring Break, with the party having been on Saturday night, and other than sleep his life away Alex had no idea what to do. Maybe go for a bike ride with Bradley, and hang out with the others, but that wasn't much. He had minimal homework left to do, which could wait until later that week. In his opinion, he deserved a rest from studying. He'd worked hard this year.

"So, what've you got planned for today?" Sabina asked as she finished off her last piece of toast, picking up her glass of juice. "You can't just sleep for a whole day again. You need to actually do something with your day."

He shrugged. "I don't know. Read?" That sounded  _incredibly_  boring, but he didn't really have anything else in mind.

"You could try calling Tom?" she suggested, tilting her head slightly. "Message to ask if he's free, then Skype or something. Do something with your day. Maybe you can even go out later."

Alex shrugged. It sounded like a good idea, he supposed. "Sure, I'll message him." He pulled out his phone to start doing just that.

Sabina watched him for a few moments, before giving him a gentle smile, and then leaning over and placing her hand on his. "Maybe he can cheer you up."

Alex's lips lifted into a half-smile, looking up from his phone to her. "You've just put toast crumbs and jam all over my hand."

She rolled her eyes at him. "It's  _jelly_."

"You've officially betrayed the British way of life. You can no longer call yourself British."


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated: 10/06/2019  
> Enjoy!

Alex had his brows furrowed as he walked out of his room for what was probably the fifth time that morning.

It was now a week after the whole incident, and he was confused. For almost a week, Tom hadn't replied to his messages, and whilst Tom could be dreadful at replying to messages, him not replying for a whole week was definitely out of the ordinary. He wasn't even sure the whole not being on Easter holidays could be used as an excuse, considering they were on holidays in the UK. Tom couldn't be blanking his messages for a whole week.

Unless he was mad about Alex not calling him back after that Saturday at the beginning of the holidays. But Tom didn't hold grudges for that long. And in all honesty, he really  _had_  wanted to talk to Tom about what happened.

Checking his phone again as he descended the staircase, he barely managed to avoid Sabina as she suddenly appeared at the bottom, on her way up.

"Woah, there, buddy." Sabina jumped out of his way, her eyes wide. "What's got you all stormy?" Noticing the phone in his hand, and how he looked mildly surprised at her appearance, she sighed. He'd been focusing on the object instead of where he was going… as he had for the past few days. "Still not replying?"

"Nope." Alex sighed, continuing to stare down at the phone in his hand. "I don't know… I'm a bit worried."

"Have you tried calling him?"

"He won't pick up."

"Messaged him in any other way?"

"Not answering on Facebook or Twitter either. It's like he's disappeared off all social media."

Sabina pursed her lips at that, her brows furrowed in thought. Considering Tom was almost always on socials, that definitely sounded concerning to her. "Have you asked Jerry?"

Alex paused at that. He… well, he hadn't even thought of that. "No. I completely forgot about him."

"Why don't you ask him?"

"Tom said he wasn't even coming anywhere near home without their dad there. He wouldn't have seen Tom recently."

"But if Tom's spoken to anyone, it would be Jerry, right?"

Alex's eyes widened as he realised that Sabina was right, and a smile grew on his face as he turned and raced upstairs. "You're right! Thanks, Sab!"

Sabina simply smiled as she watched Alex race past her back up the stairs to his room. Ironic, considering she'd originally been heading upstairs to check on him anyway. She was about to head back down when Alex sped down the stairs again, grabbing her arm and dragging her up the stairs after him. She practically screeched as she was pulled along.

" _Alex!_ "

* * *

Once they'd reached his room and Alex had booted up his laptop, it hadn't taken him long for him to get in touch with Jerry. He already had the other guy on Facebook (it was easy enough to add him through Tom), and a quick message to him got Jerry's Skype username and had them on a skype video call with each other within the hour (whilst Sabina lay back on his bed, busying herself with replying to messages on her phone and trying to seem like she wasn't eavesdropping on his conversation with Jerry – she knew that Alex knew she was listening, though).

" _How are you, Alex? Last I heard, you'd moved to the States!_ "

"I'm good." Alex had a small smile on his face. He had forgotten how genuinely cheerful Jerry was when there was no mention of his parents. Then again, so was Tom. It was just a shame they were forced to go through all of that. "Alive, at least. Where are you now, then?"

" _I think we're in… oh, what's it called? Some place along the South of France, I think. We're doing a short trip along the Mediterranean – made it from Turkey to France so far. I think it's Spain next._ "

"Oh, cool. How is it there?"

" _Real nice and warm, I've gotta say. Makes England look like a right dump. Then again, there are few countries that make England actually look_ _good_ _._ " Jerry leaned in close to the screen. " _What about 'Merica? What's it like there?_ "

"Well, the accents are different."

" _No shit._ " Jerry burst out laughing. " _Anyway, what's this call for? You don't call to check up on me. Or at all, really._ "

Alex laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Jerry had caught him there. "Yeah, I guess I don't." He paused for a few moments before deciding to spill the beans. "Have you heard from Tom recently?"

Jerry frowned slightly. " _Tom? Why do you ask?_ "

Alex shrugged. "I just… he hasn't been replying to my messages for about a week, maybe a bit longer."

" _A week? The heck? That's not normal._ " Jerry leaned over and picked up his own phone, checking something. " _He's replied to me, though. Told me last week that he's gone with mum and her new asshole of a boy toy to the Isle of Wight for Easter, and he's off all socials until the end of the holidays._ "

Alex frowned deeply at that. Why hadn't Tom told him that? They always at least tried to tell each other this kind of stuff, and he should've been available to call the morning after the party. And socials didn't mean not answering phone calls… "What about phone calls?"

" _Not sure about that one. But he's just been replying to texts. He mentioned something about forgetting his charger._ "

That just sounded like a ton of excuses on Tom's end. Why wouldn't he reply to any of Alex's messages? "Have you contacted your mum?"

" _No. I haven't spoken to her since the split._ "

"Oh." Alex bit his lip. Well, that was just  _fantastic_. It wasn't as if  _he_  could call their mum to find out what was going on.

Jerry appeared to notice the look on Alex's face, because soon enough he was giving the other a sympathetic smile. " _Look, I'll… I'll message Tom for you. Try to get him to contact you, or something. But I can't make any promises, alright?_ "

Alex gave a nod, sending Jerry a grateful smile. "Thanks, Jerry."

" _No problem. I'll get back to you about it if I hear anything._ "

"Great."

" _Anyway,_ " he continued, before Alex could even suggest ending the call, " _I have some questions to ask about America. We're thinking of some place to settle after this whole Mediterranean trip, and whilst Europe is pretty, I can't really find any place I'd like working over here. So I need ideas._ "

Alex laughed. "Look, Jerry, this place is huge…"

" _Then you must have tons of descriptions. Get talking, mate._ "

* * *

It wasn't until a day later that Alex finally admitted to himself that there was something seriously wrong.

It started with a text from Jerry, mentioning how he'd plucked up the courage and called his mum, and she'd quickly denied the claim that they were going to the Isle of Wight for a holiday – they'd planned to, but had never gone in the end. She'd broken up with her boyfriend, and he'd gone with some buddies instead for some sort of friends' getaway. Around the same time, Tom had said he was spending the rest of the holidays at James' (which, ironically, was what had pushed her to break up with her boyfriend, as Tom hadn't liked or trusted him one bit), but had texted her to say he'd forgotten to take his charger and was in a house full of iPhone users with an android. They were supposed to be going away for a few days.

When James had been asked (by Jerry, not Alex, because he was still pretty scattered with regards to replying to Alex's messages), he agreed that Tom was meant to come over and they were going away for a few days, but that was it. Tom hadn't even turned up. He didn't answer any of James' messages, and had pretty much ignored all of his calls.

So Jerry had tried calling and messaging Tom himself, to no success. Tom wasn't even replying to his brother. Tom  _never_  did that.

Tom had gone off the grid, and no one knew why or how.

Then came the email.

Alex had almost missed it at first – they'd been thrown straight into his spam folder, and he was just lucky that he looked through that folder before throwing everything out (or rather, deleting everything). But as he was going through the folder, he realised there were emails from the exact same person, with the exact same message subject, that had arrived every day for the past three weeks. He would've ignored it, had it not been for the email subject:

_**Save them…** _

Frowning, he quickly deleted every other piece of spam before clicking on the first message.

_Sacrifice yourself, or your friends will suffer._

Alex blinked at the message, clearly confused. "What?" Reading over the message multiple times, it didn't change. The same words were on the screen; nothing more, nothing less.

Exiting from the message, he decided to skip half a week of messages and open one sent to him half a week later. The exact same message was seen on the screen.

_Sacrifice yourself, or your friends will suffer._

"What's going on?" he muttered, more to himself than anything.

Things got worse when he found attachments at the two-week mark. Opening the attachment, his breath caught in his throat when he was met with a photo of Tom – a  _surveillance_ photo of Tom. Alex recognised the surroundings as the streets outside of Brooklands, and his heart rate sped up.

Whoever this person was knew who Tom was and where he went to school. The email was serious about his friends.

Going back to the list of emails, his heart felt like it was leaping out of his chest when he realised all the later emails contained attachments, being photos up until the night of the party. He pretty much stopped breathing when he realised the attachments for the latest few emails (from the night of the party onwards) were videos, and not photos.

Hesitating for what felt like hours (but in reality, was only minutes), Alex considered what to do. He knew he should take this to the police, to some authority that knew how to deal with this sort of stuff. But he was already being let down by the law enforcement system – he didn't trust those officers a single bit.

So, clicking on the email from the night of the party, he downloaded the video to open it up on his laptop computer and turned towards the door. " _Sab_!" he called out, sounding almost desperate.

Which is why she arrived at his bedroom door panting and panicking in less than five minutes – better than her previous timekeeping abilities – in response to his call. "What… what?" she managed to pant out as she stood there, with wide eyes.

He beckoned her over. "Come… come look at this…" His voice was wavering, his eyes glued to the screen as he turned back to face it. As soon as he felt her presence behind him, he clicked play.

The video was dark, for sure, but Alex could hear footsteps as whoever took the video moved about the dark place. Sabina was just about to question what exactly she was being shown when a doorway appeared in the video, the door only being opened slightly, and the camera peered through it.

Into Tom's room.

The boy was sat at what looked to be his desk, light from what was probably a computer screen illuminating his face, and he was speaking to someone. When Alex registered what he was saying, his face paled.

" _I don't know. I just… couldn't sleep. You know, with the house only half full. Even though it's quieter."_

" _You need to talk about it?"_  It wasn't difficult to recognise Alex's voice from the video – and knowing Tom, he would've put his speakers on high volume simply because his mother was a deep sleeper and wouldn't hear if Tom and Alex were having a loud chat anyway. Plus, it was a way of letting whoever was up in the house know that Tom was awake, and knew that they were too. Though… in this situation, it seemed to backfire.

" _I… not really, I don't think. I don't know. Jerry won't come home because of it. And mum's already found a new guy. He's staying the night."_

" _Oh?"_

" _Yeah. That's why I woke up, actually. I thought I heard him moving downstairs."_

" _Well, he's just a guest, right?"_

" _Right… but I don't like him. I can't pinpoint why. Maybe it's just because he's dating mum."_

Alex swore violently beneath his breath. "That… that was the night of the party. That's the last time I spoke to Tom…"

Sabina's breath caught in her throat. "Someone was watching him…?"

"He said… he said he could hear movement and couldn't sleep…"

Sabina placed a gentle hand on Alex's shoulder, though she didn't expect him to jump at that. "Hey, hey. Calm down. It's just a video."

"A  _surveillance_ video. Of my  _best friend_."

"You can't just jump to that conclusion."

Alex was just about to argue, when he realised there were more recent emails containing videos of Tom. "I'm probably not jumping to conclusions," he muttered lowly as he opened up an email from three days later and downloaded the attached video. Waiting a few moments, as soon as the video was downloaded he opened it, clicking on the play button. His heart leapt into his throat at what he saw.

Tom was lying on what looked to be a concrete floor, seemingly bound in what seemed to be rope with his arms behind his back. He looked as if he were unconscious, bruises present on his temple, and his t-shirt was ripped. His haggard appearance made Alex think he'd been kept where he was for at least a day or two.

Suddenly, a bucket of water was thrown over the boy, and he splattered awake, gasping and looking around. When his eyes landed on the camera (or rather, the person holding it), he glared and started yelling.

" _What the hell?! Let me go you fucking asshole!"_  He wiggled around in his bonds.  _"Let me out! I'll get you fucking arrested for kidnapping, you shithead!"_

The video ended there, and Alex and Sabina simply sat there, staring at the screen with wide eyes. Sabina was the first to move, closing the video and sending them back to the list of emails.

"That was from about half a week ago," Alex muttered, looking over at Sabina with wide eyes. "I haven't heard from him because he's been  _kidnapped_ , Sabina."

Sabina pursed her lips as she focused on the screen in front of them. If that was from about half a week ago…

She clicked on the most recent email, received just that morning. Yet another video, this one likely to be of Tom. Glancing down, she noticed the pale look on Alex's face.

"We need to know whether he's alive," she stated simply. "If they've already had him for this long…"

Alex took the mouse from Sabina and downloaded the video before he could change his mind. If there was a video he wasn't looking forward to watching, it had to be this one. A week since Tom had gone missing, and now he'd found out that Tom was being held hostage.

And according to all of these emails, it was because Alex hadn't given himself up. To whom, he had no idea.

Taking a deep breath when the download had completed, Alex closed his eyes tightly before clicking on the video and allowing it to start playing. It was when Sabina's breath hitched that he opened his eyes, and he realised that looking was probably not the best of ideas.

The screen showed a darkened room, barely illuminated, with the barest of shadows surrounding the figure to show there was actually someone there. Suddenly, a dim light was switched on, and Alex pretty much stopped breathing.

A figure stood in the middle of what looked like a barn, arms held up with what looked to be either ropes or chains as their head hung down by their chest, their dark, shaggy hair hanging around their head and covering up what little could have been seen of their face. They were barely standing, their knees bent as if they were only stood up enough to relieve any pressure on their wrists. A sharp whistle sounded, and they looked up slowly, and Alex felt physically unable to breathe.

It was Tom.


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated: 02/07/2019  
> Ah, it's been so long! I'm so sorry I haven't been writing as much recently, but I'm going to try and get back to it and get chapters rewritten as quickly as possible so that I can continue with the story. I've just had a lot going on since I finished uni for the year. But I should be writing more now!  
> Anyway, enjoy!

"Alex! Alex!  _Alex_!"

Alex blanked out Sabina's voice as he sped down the stairs, unintentionally clenching his hands into fists. What he'd seen on the screen – what he'd received via email – had shaken him to his core. And he needed to hit something or yell at something before he hurt someone or himself.

Tom was kidnapped. He had no idea where he was. And in exchange for Tom, they wanted Alex.

Wonderful.

This whole thing would have been easier to solve if he knew who or where these people were – because then he would know how to find Tom, and how exactly he'd managed to piss these people off. The last group he'd pissed off, he remembered dismantling them with his own hands (over the course of multiple months and missions). And there was no way they had resurfaced.

Right?

Jumping down the very bottom set of stairs, Alex headed straight for the shoe rack, grabbing a pair of sneakers to put on. He was stopped when he felt a fairly small pair of hands pull at him, spinning him around to face a distraught and somewhat angry Sabina.

"Why the hell are you  _ignoring_  me?!" she demanded. She grabbed Alex's arm again to stop him from turning back to his shoes, her grip tight on his arm. "Nuh-uh – before you even think about doing that, you need to let me into that crazy head of yours. What are you doing?"

Alex pursed his lips at that, narrowing his eyes. He knew that this was one of the techniques that the therapist was teaching him, one of the ways they were getting him to open up more, and he didn't want to feel like he was in the clinic right then. Still, he kind of got where Sabina was going with this – he had to tell her what was going on. He couldn't keep her out of the loop. (Not if he wanted to survive in this house until he left for uni—college.)

"I need to find where Tom is being kept," he finally bit out, sounding both frustrated and a little in pain from Sabina's grip. He pulled his arm from her hand and rubbed the sore spot. "But the emails won't tell me. So I need someone who can find out." He glanced to the side momentarily. "Johnny does programming."

Sabina's eyebrows rose as her hands dropped down by her sides. "So you're going to get him to trace an email?"

"I'm going to make him trace them all to get a rough location."

"And what if he can't do it?" Sabina noticed the hard look that appeared on his face, and she scowled. "No. You said you weren't dealing with them again."

"That was before I found out Tom was being kidnapped because of me."

"There has to be a better way."

"For goodness' sake, Sabina, there  _isn't_ one! That's why I'm going  _this_  way! It's the only reason why!"

Liz popped her head out of the kitchen when she heard Alex's raised voice, raising an eyebrow at the pair arguing in the corridor. "Are you two alright, there? I thought I heard some shouting." Of course, that was an understatement, but she wasn't going to say that.

Sabina plastered on a wide smile for her mother as Alex looked away to prevent her from spotting the frustration on his face. "We're good, mum. Promise."

Liz stared at them for a good few seconds, waiting to see if they would say or do anything on the contrary, but when they didn't, she gave them a smile before retreating back into the kitchen.

The two remained silent for a little while, but as soon as they were sure Liz wasn't listening in on their heated debate, Alex and Sabina went straight back at it, hissing loudly at each other instead of raising their voices.

"I'm doing what I want, and you can't stop me."

"I bloody well can!" Sabina hissed back at him. "You are not leaving this house to pull off some stupid stunt that gets you back into the world you finally managed to leave! You  _cannot_  go after Tom alone!"

"I am literally being  _dragged_  back into it kicking and screaming!" Alex growled out through gritted teeth. "I have no choice! Tom can't  _die_ because of me!"

The two glared at each other in silence for a few moments, their eyes battling, before Sabina finally looked away with a sigh.

"Alright, you have a point." Before Alex could say anything else, however, she continued to speak, "But I'm coming with you. You're not doing this alone. Not like before."

Alex stared at her for a few moments, with an expression akin to shock, before he shook his head. He narrowed his eyes at Sabina, though it was clear that he was worried. "What if you get hurt?"

She shrugged a little. "That's a part of the process, isn't it?"

He pursed his lips. "No. I can't let you."

"And _I_  can't let you go it alone, Alex." She reached out and placed a hand on his arm, this time providing a gentle grip. "They made you go it alone before. I'm giving you support and backup, okay?"

He sighed. "You're definitely going to end up in some sort of trouble..."

She jutted her chin out in defiance. "I can handle myself, thank you very much."

Alex smirked at that, shaking his head. "Kicking a guy in the balls for trying to flirt with you doesn't count."

Sabina snorted. "It sure does." She grinned at him for a few moments, before moving to grab her sneakers from the shoe rack. "Let's get moving then. If we're gonna get Johnny's help, we should do it before his parents head home for lunch. They're weirder than he is."

Alex frowned at that. "How do you—?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

* * *

Pulling up in front of the house in Sabina's car, Alex looked up with a sigh.

The house wasn't big, or extravagant, but it was obvious to see that Johnny's parents weren't exactly struggling for cash. There were no cars in the driveway at that moment in time, but Sabina mentioned something about his parents owning fairly big, fairly expensive cars and working pretty high-profile careers. Which really made Alex wonder how Johnny could get bullied at school – because he knew for a fact that Colin and Clayton did not come from the well-to-do areas around the school and their parents worked near constantly in the more working-class jobs. He knew jealousy had a part to play in it, but Johnny at least had to know how to defend himself, right? Or at least had the money to take lessons?

Though, from his interactions with his bullies, he highly doubted he used any sort of money he had for that kind of thing.

Turning off the engine, Sabina turned to Alex. "Here we are: Johnny's place."

Alex pursed his lips, quiet for a few moments. "How do you know where he lives?" he asked curiously, looking over at her. One of his eyebrows rose when she shrugged and turned to look away from him.

"He's great with homework help."

"Homework help, or homework completion?"

Sabina scowled at the suggestive tone in Alex's voice. "Look, it was one time, okay? Right when I first moved here. I didn't get a thing."

"So you cheated."

"I asked for help and kicked my pride to the kerb."

Alex sniggered, ignoring the push he received from Sabina. "Yeah, no. You cheated." He placed his hand on the door handle and opened the door, pushing it open so that he could get out. "I bet you got a good grade for it too."

Sabina rolled her eyes as she followed him in getting out of the car. "Not unrealistically," she countered with a smirk. "Johnny knows how to make realistic mistakes. He studies your work style and answers accordingly." She furrowed her brows in thought as she shut the car door. "He could even be a profiler at some point."

"Or an identity thief," Alex countered as the two headed towards the front door of the house. Walking along the driveway, Alex took the time to look around and observe some of the other houses in the neighbourhood.

None of them seemed to stand out that much, all of them appearing similar to Johnny's with very slight differences that weren't noticed unless one looked carefully. In fact, it was when he was looking closely at the house next door to Johnny's that he realised there was something very familiar about the building, and he quietly swore.

Sabina glanced over at him as they reached the front door. "So you realised, huh?"

Alex sighed as he faced the door, focusing on what was ahead of him. "She's going to kill us both if she finds out about any of this," he muttered, more to himself than Sabina. She responded anyway.

"You think I don't already know that?"

* * *

Waking up that morning, Chrissy didn't know what to expect from the day. The first thing she'd done was respond to messages from Abena and Jasleen, sent to her right after she'd fallen asleep with her phone on her pillow (her parents kept going on about how she  _shouldn't_ be doing that, but she didn't really care), before sending off a message to Essie asking about what plans she had for the day. Going to the library to study as Jasleen probably would sounded like a terrible idea, she really didn't feel up for going for a run, and she really hoped that Essie had something in mind for the day. As of late, Alex had only being replying to her messages with short sentences, giving her the feeling that he wasn't up for talking most of the time, so she just left him be and decided that if she really needed him, like if she wanted someone with ninja skills to walk her home from a party, she'd call him instead of text. Maybe she'd get more words from him that way.

She'd just drawn her curtain, letting the light from the day shine into her room, when she noticed a car parking outside her neighbour's place. She didn't often speak to Johnny, but when she did it was generally to defend him from bullies or give him that slight bit of extra self-confidence he needed to get through the day. Seeing a car pull up outside his house, when his parents obviously weren't home to expect and greet guests, was definitely a strange occurrence.

It got stranger when she realised she  _definitely_  recognised the figures climbing out of the car.

"Oh  _shit_ ," she hissed as she ducked down, hoping to not be seen. Why were Alex and Sabina coming to Johnny's? What did they want with him? And why on earth wasn't  _she_  told about this beforehand? She was relatively good in the "communication with Johnny" department, considering she spoke with him the most out of the group. And she lived next door to him.

What could they possibly want from him that Chrissy couldn't get from him herself?

As she peeked out through her bedroom window again, she realised that Alex and Sabina had reached the door, and it was being opened by Johnny himself, who appeared to be shocked considering the situation.

Ah, so he hadn't been expecting them either.

She watched as the trio conversed for a bit, before Johnny stood aside to let the Pleasures into his abode, shutting the door behind him.

Chrissy watched the closed door for a few moments, before straightening up.

Now she was really curious. What was going on? She had to know, right? Or was she not allowed to?

Either way, she grabbed one of her zip-up sweatshirts and pulled it on, before she made her way to the bedroom window closest to Johnny's house. She'd done this plenty of times when she'd first moved over, considering Johnny was her first real friend in the country, and it had become somewhat of a thing for whenever she needed something.

It was also the reason that Johnny's room had been moved to the other side of the house.

Undoing the latch, she pushed the bedroom window open fully, sticking a leg out before beginning to climb onto the outer ledge of the window. It took her a good few moments to get situated properly so that she wouldn't slip, but once she had her balance she began to shift along the wall, moving so that she was opposite the house's nearest window. It took her a few moments, many of which involved her nearly slipping off the ledge, but eventually she was in the right position, and she took a deep breath.

This was, hands down, the most dangerous part of her expedition. And it was the part her parents always ranted at her over, because even  _she_  knew that it wasn't safe, because the risk of falling and injuring herself seriously was pretty high.

Didn't stop her from doing it, though.

Taking a deep breath, Chrissy counted to three in her head before pushing off the ledge of her own house, twisting mid air before grappling at the ledge of the window on the opposing house. Almost screeching, she managed to grab onto the ledge just in time, though not without scratching the pads of her fingers against the ledge. Breathing deeply, she waited for her rapidly beating heart to calm down a little before beginning to pull herself up, reaching up to push open the window.

The good thing about Johnny's house was the fact that all the windows could be opened from the outside. The kid had a tendency to forget his keys – as did his father when he popped to the grocery store round the corner for a couple of snacks at ungodly hours – so it was useful for allowing people to get into the house even without any keys. It was also a huge risk for burglars, but that problem was generally solved by all doors being locked with a key that was always removed in the evenings (when everyone had gone to bed) or when no one was in the house – so no matter where you entered, you were either locked in a room or locked out of all the rooms. At night, the motion sensors were activated too, to monitor activity.

His parents were kind of paranoid, despite the lack of security on the windows.

As soon as Chrissy had managed to push the window open enough, she pulled herself up and through the now open window, taking a while before eventually tumbling through to the other side. Laying there for a few moments, she breathed heavily and allowed herself to recover a little before sitting up and pushing herself to her feet.

The room she had fallen into – the one that used to be Johnny's bedroom – was obviously now a spare room. The walls were a blank, neutral cream colour, and the flooring was a light wood that meant the room was very bright and airy during the day. Looking at the amount of space in the room, though, Chrissy got the feeling she wasn't the only reason why Johnny had been moved out – there certainly wasn't enough space for him to put all his games or set up that new gaming computer he'd got for Christmas. His new room was likely more spacious than this, with more than enough room for a large desk.

Hearing footsteps and chatter out in the corridor, Chrissy moved to press herself against the wall by the door. She thought Johnny had been home  _alone_  – there wasn't meant to be anyone on this side of the house. She wracked her brain for any possible reason that there would be someone in the house. Nothing came to mind, except the possibility that Johnny's sister was home.

The sister who found it absolutely creepy when she climbed through the windows to say hi to Johnny and snitched on her whenever she saw Chrissy in the house without having been let in through the front door.

Great.

Waiting until the voices had faded, Chrissy quietly reached for and turned the door handle before pulling the door open. Glancing out into the corridor and spotting no one, she quietly slipped out of the room and shut the door behind her.

She was in. Perfect. Now to find the others.


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated: 07/08/2019  
> Apologies! It's been ages since I actually updated this - almost two months - and I feel really bad about that! I thought I'd have more time to write this, but other things have got in the way. But I have another chapter, and it's longer than the others to make up for everything, so I hope you enjoy!

"Okay, so what exactly do you want me to do?"

The three of them – Alex, Sabina and Johnny – were sat in Johnny's bedroom, with Johnny at his computer and Alex and Sabina perched on the bed behind him. Avoiding his sister (so that he didn't have to introduce them to her), Johnny had led them straight to his room, booting up his computer and opening his browser as soon as it had done so. As the browser loaded up, he span his desk chair to face the two, asking his question.

Alex glanced at Sabina to see if she would answer for him, but when he realised she wasn't going to say anything he turned back to Johnny, clearing his throat.

"So, we need to you trace the origins of an email… or rather, a few emails," Alex explained.

Johnny's eyebrows rose. "A few?"

"Yeah."

"How many?"

Alex blew a raspberry as he thought about the situation. Maybe three, four weeks' worth? "A good little while, at least."

"A few weeks," Sabina explained for Alex more clearly, shooting him a look.

Johnny narrowed his eyes as he looked between the two, not exactly sure what was going on. Alex was half nervous that he'd get really suspicious and start asking really invasive questions – questions that Alex wasn't exactly prepared to answer.

But then, he apparently seemed to drop it, his posture relaxing a little. After all, they were in his territory now. They couldn't really do anything to him. "Okay, where are the emails? I'll need to have access to them to trace them."

Alex nodded as he stood, moving towards the computer and leaning over Johnny to log into his emails. It took him a few moments, but soon enough he was in and was accessing his spam folder. "Your computer is fast," he commented as he stood back to let Johnny have free rein on the emails.

Johnny grinned as he cracked his knuckles, getting ready to type away. "You kind of need the best computers for games and programming," he pointed out as he scrolled down to the very first email. "Got the best to be the best." Tapping a few keys once he'd opened up the first email, some code appeared on the screen. Continuing to tap, he explained as he worked, "So what I'm trying to do now is find the location of the originating IP address for this email – once you've found the IP location, you can estimate where the person is based on the landscape, or any other clues in the email – or if you have any clues otherwise." He continued to type at the code, before stopping to point at a string of numbers that appeared on the screen, interlaced with full stops. "Here's the originating IP address. Though, from the looks of it, this email was bounced around a bit before it reached you. Probably for security purposes."

"You got that right," Sabina grumbled.

Alex leaned down to get a closer look. Barely any of what was on the screen made sense to him – he knew basic computer coding from classes and the occasional Google search, but this was a whole new game to him. This information was going right over his head. "But… you can trace the IP address, right?"

"An IP address is basically what tells you about the computer that's accessing a network. Because it's unique to a computer and its access point, it should be able to give an approximate location of the computer that sent the email through the network and into the web." He began to type away, his fingers moving over the keyboard rapidly.

Alex's eyebrows rose as he stood back. "A simple, 'Yeah' would've sufficed," he muttered as he watched Johnny work.

Not hearing Alex (or rather, completely ignoring him), Johnny eventually sat back with a grin as a map appeared on the screen, a circle surrounding the area that the IP address had been linked to. "Here we go. That's the location the first email was sent from."

Sabina stood from the bed to join Alex as they took a closer look at the screen, and the pair quickly realised that what was being shown was somewhat of a street map, with the circle covering an area of a good few metres.

"Where exactly is that?" Sabina asked with a frown on her face. She didn't recognise any of the roads given there.

Alex's eyes narrowed as he took a closer look. "That looks like Italian," he muttered. "Not exactly sure where, though…"

"It's somewhere in Rome, I think," Johnny said. When he realised the other two were staring at him, he shrugged. "I've been on holiday there before. Those names looked familiar."

Before Alex could say anything, Sabina interjected, "Okay, what about the next email? Let's see if there's a pattern with the email origins."

Johnny moved to repeat the process with the next email, bringing up a new map that was very different to the one seen beforehand.

"Where on earth is that?" Sabina exclaimed, completely confused. "That looks nothing like the one before!"

"That's the South of France," Alex muttered, folding his arms. "Somewhere in Lille, I think? It looks a bit familiar."

"But it's not near where the previous email was sent!"

"It's definitely nowhere near Rome, that's for sure." Alex turned to Johnny. "Let's keep going. Maybe there's a pattern with these."

Johnny simply nodded as he moved on to the next email, restarting the process.

* * *

Crouching down, Chrissy made her way down the corridor of the upper floor of the house, half hopping, half crawling along as she listened out for voices. As far as she could tell, the others didn't seem to be on this floor – every door she'd listened in on had ended up being silent (apart from that one door where she'd heard kissing noises – she'd promptly cringed and crawled away from that one as quickly as she could).

It was as she was reaching the last door – the only door left before the staircase – that she began to hear voices from the other side of it. She paused, staying to see if the voices would continue, before shifting closer to place her ear against the door.

It didn't take long for her to realise that the voices were those of the people she was searching for.

" _Okay so… that location is significantly closer…"_

" _It definitely looks like somewhere bordering the channel. The path looks like they're heading towards the UK."_

" _Which would make sense, really."_

Chrissy's brows furrowed. No, it really didn't make sense. Not to her, at least. What were these guys even on about?

" _So… they travelled from Italy to the UK, it looks like. Gradually, at least."_

" _Yeah, but where in the UK? The isle may be tiny compared to the States, but it's still huge and easy to get lost. There's a ridiculous number of villages where you can just disappear off the map."_

Okay, so that was something very true about the UK. But Chrissy didn't get why they were talking about this sort of stuff. If they wanted to go on a holiday to the UK, wouldn't it have been easier to speak to their parents about it? Why were they talking about this with Johnny, who clearly hadn't had any idea of their plans until they'd turned up at his door?

And somehow, Chrissy knew that if she walked in right then, they would stop talking and change the conversation to leave her out of the loop. Because that had happened far too often with Sabina and Alex – as if they were trying to keep something a secret from everyone else.

So she remained close to the door, listening out for the rest of the conversation.

* * *

They made it to the surveillance photos of Tom before they realised that the email trail did, in fact, lead to London – West London, to be more specific. Not that Alex was surprised – unless the photos had been sent to someone from a distant location, the photos would have to have been taken and sent not too far from where Tom had been, and from what he remembered the other guy didn't live too far from the school, Brooklands, which was in Chelsea itself. The real surprise was when there were a few photos taken and sent from within Tom's house itself, before the videos started being sent. And then everything started being sent from a completely different place.

"Is that the Isle of Wight?" Sabina asked with a frown. Alex had a confused look on his own face as he nodded. Clearly, neither of them had been expecting this at all, but it suddenly made sense to Alex.

It was a distant location, with a lot of open land that meant people weren't in close proximity of each other, and there was a lower risk of nosy neighbours and people trying to find out what was going on. Which in turn meant fewer police, and less of a chance of getting caught.

Whoever these guys were, they were playing it smart.

"Uh, sorry to sound like an idiot…" Johnny suddenly spoke up, causing the other two to turn towards him, "but… what's this Isle of Wight place…?"

"It's a small island off the southern coast of England," Sabina explained. "Usually a short boat ride away – about half an hour by ferry. People go there for short holidays and stuff."

Alex's eyes widened momentarily. "Wait… short holidays?"

Sabina nodded, before rolling her eyes. "Yeah, Alex, short holidays. What, did you forget people take holidays there? Or have you never been?"

"Oh, no, I've been," Alex brushed off quickly, before delving deep into thought. For some reason, the idea of going to the Isle of Wight on holiday brought a memory to mind, though he wasn't a hundred percent sure what. Going to the Isle of Wight on holiday… he was sure he'd heard that somewhere recently…

And then he remembered his conversation with Jerry, and his eyes widened. Tom's mum… her ex-boyfriend was meant to be going there with some friends, and Tom had intended to go with his mum before she had broken up with him. So… either way, Tom would have been on the Isle of Wight, but this just made it so much more suspicious.

Whoever had taken Tom had been both at the house, and was now on the Isle of Wight.

"It was the  _fucking boyfriend_ ," Alex growled, standing up straight suddenly and turning to Sabina sharply.

She blinked at him, looking utterly confused from her spot on Johnny's bed. Heck, even Johnny looked confused at Alex's outburst. No one knew what he was talking about, except for him apparently.

"Uh… what?" she asked eventually, noting how he looked as if he was about to rip his hair out in frustration. At the back of her mind, she realised she probably had to calm him down before he actually  _did_  rip his hair out, otherwise his therapist wouldn't be happy with him and start talking to him about his coping mechanisms again (a topic Alex hated going on about anyway, so when his therapist picked up on it he came home sour-faced and moody).

Before Alex could explain what he meant, though, Johnny's bedroom door suddenly slammed open, and Chrissy stumbled into the room, followed by a furious-looking young woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to Johnny. Johnny himself looked terrified when the two burst into the room, nearly toppling over the back of his chair in shock, whilst Sabina and Alex visibly jumped. When they realised Chrissy was there, they calmed down slightly.

"Chris?" Alex asked slowly, his brows furrowed. The room was silent for a few moments, before he spoke again. "Wait, what are you doing here?"

Chrissy blinked, looking just as shocked and confused herself, before she barked out a laugh. " _Me_? I live next door! What are  _you_  guys doing here?"

Alex bristled at Chrissy's tone. "We're paying Johnny a visit."

"Oh, a  _visit_?"

Before they could start bickering, though, Johnny's sister shook Chrissy by the back of her collar, glaring at her. "Johnny, I found this brat out in the corridor! We've  _talked_ about letting rats like this into the house!"

"I'm not a rat!" Chrissy protested. "Just because your dumbass boyfriend doesn't know how to jimmy the windows open—"

"That's  _breaking and entering_!" the young woman snarled. "We should get you arrested! And a damn restraining order! Maybe that'll get you out of the damn house. For  _fuck's_  sake, Johnny, control your friends!"

Johnny spluttered for a few moments, bewildered at the scene going on in front of him.

"And who are  _these_  idiots you've got sitting in your room?" she continued on, glaring at her brother. "You  _know_  you're not allowed guests during the day without permission! You don't know who you could be letting into the house! What the  _hell_  Johnny! You don't  _break the rules_! Get them  _out_!"

"I-I… they came to the door!"

"Then you tell them not to come in, you  _asshole_!"

"Hang on, hang on," Chrissy interrupted, looking between Johnny and his sister. Alex noted the glint in her eyes, and knew she was just about to stir up trouble – trouble that may get  _them_  out of trouble.

"Does this 'No guests without permission' rule apply to you both?"

Alex was the first to notice the sister's face go pale whilst Johnny struggled to come out with an answer to the question. Ah… so Chrissy had touched a sore spot. And by the looks of it, this woman had to have a  _special_  sort of friend for her to want to keep it a secret from their parents and only bring them over when their parents weren't around.

"U-uh… yeah…" Johnny finally replied, straightening himself up and trying to compose himself. "We need to let our parents know of any guests…"

"So what if your sister had a male acquaintance come round?"

"Th-that's… that's banned."

A grin slowly spread on Chrissy's face, and Alex quickly caught on, smirking.  _Perfect._

"Our silence for yours," Sabina said from her spot on the bed, a grin on her own face. "Of course, I think you'll get in a  _bit_  more trouble for having a  _guy_  over than a group of friends."

"I thought your boyfriend was studying in Seattle," Johnny asked, his brows furrowed in confusion. That comment made Chrissy bark out a laugh.

"Oh my God, you're a  _cheater_?!"

The sister dropped Chrissy quickly, before backing out of the room. "Not a word to mom or dad, Johnny, or I'll  _murder_  you!"

Chrissy straightened her collar, rubbing her throat as she took a few deep breaths, before smirking over at Johnny. "She lay a finger on you, you call me. I'll jump over."

Johnny cracked a small smile at that. "Huh, thanks."

"That's what neighbours are for." She then looked to Alex and Sabina, and the smile melted off her face. The sudden change in her expression put Alex on edge, and he backed away in anticipation of what was going to happen.

"As for  _you two_ ," the brunette practically hissed at Sabina and Alex, making the fair-haired male flinch and the freckled girl's eyes widen. "What the  _hell_  are you guys even doing here? You're in my neighbourhood, and you didn't even think to  _tell me_?"

Alex and Sabina shared a glance, before Alex decided to take the first step and speak. After all, Chrissy was  _his_  friend…

"Look, it's just… we needed to speak with Johnny about something important…"

"Oh yeah?" Chrissy cut in, kicking the door shut behind her as she moved towards Johnny's computer. Shoving the boy aside before he could do anything, she pointed to the computer screen. "Well, what's all this then? About the Isle of Wight and boyfriends and travelling from Italy to the UK? Who the hell have you been tracking?"

Alex and Sabina stared at each other silently, as if debating with their eyes on who should be answering Chrissy's questions. Whilst Alex knew everything that was going on… Sabina would probably be better at breaking the news.

Instead, it was Johnny who spoke.

"Someone's been sending Alex emails about a guy they kidnapped," the bespectacled boy answered quietly. "They want something from him, and Alex is trying to find them. Maybe so that he can give it to them, maybe so that he can get back the guy they kidnapped. I don't know. Either way, it doesn't sound like they're going to the government about this."

Chrissy gave Alex an incredulous look. "You're  _not_  going to the government about this?"

Alex narrowed his eyes at her. "Why should I?"

"Uh, because someone got kidnapped? Because you're getting emails from a weirdo? Because it's  _safer_?" Chrissy was shaking her head. "Look, Alex, this is  _stupid_. You can't save some guy by  _not_ going to the government about it. That's counter-productive."

"He can if he wants to go after them," Sabina pointed out, and by now Alex realised she was glaring at him. Ah… so she'd figured out his plan. Great.

Chrissy's eyes bugged out of her head. "What?"

"He wants to go to England and chase after these idiots who have kidnapped the guy. Obviously." At the look Alex was giving her, she rolled her eyes. "What, didn't you think I'd realise? Why else would you ask Johnny to trace instead of going straight to the feds?"

"Because I don't trust them?" Alex asked, as if that were obvious. His voice then lowered, the affronted expression he'd been wearing making way for one a lot more concerned about the situation. "This is Tom we're talking about, Sab…  _Tom_."

"Wait, wait, wait. Hang on." Chrissy put her hands up to stop the others from saying anything more. "Are we… are we talking about the same Tom? The one that no one's met? The invisible friend?"

"If I showed you pictures, would you believe me?" Alex asked bluntly. "They're pretty gruesome, but they show a real person."

"Tom  _is_  real, Chris," Sabina explained quietly. "I may not have met him, but I definitely know that he's real. He's not something Alex would lie about."

The brunette looked between her two friends carefully, trying to decide whether it was a good idea to believe them or not, and eventually sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll believe you guys on this one." She folded her arms as she turned her focus to Alex. "So, what are you going to do?" The way she saw it, this was his game that she was playing along with; any decisions came from him. And maybe Sabina, who had her head screwed on a lot more than he did.

Alex glanced to Sabina cautiously. He knew that his foster sister very much knew what he wanted to do next, and that she didn't agree with it at all, but it had to be done. After all, if he was going to them, they were going to play it his way or not at all.

"We're going to England," he decided finally as he folded his arms, which made Sabina sigh, appearing slightly irritated. "But first, we're going to the feds. They have contacts that I need, and the only way I can get them is by going to them in person."

There was silence in the room for a few moments as the other three digested exactly what Alex was saying. Whilst Johnny was fairly out of the loop with everything that was going on, Sabina fully knew what Alex was saying, her eyes wide.

"You don't mean…"

Alex gave a single nod. "Yep. We're going to the CIA."

* * *

Sitting quietly at the table, Alex picked up his glass and took a long, slow sip from it. Whilst it wasn't exactly the hottest weather they had in San Francisco, it was certainly warm enough to warrant an iced tea at a nearby café whilst keeping an eye on the building that housed the CIA West Coast Headquarters.

It had taken a lot of convincing, but Chrissy had become a part of the small group determined to save Tom and was sat at a small table outside the café with Alex and Sabina, drinking on her own iced tea whilst Sabina sipped on an iced latte. Sabina's head was down, her eyes glued to her laptop as she scrolled down web pages.

"You found anything yet?" Chrissy asked quietly, her eyes scanning the various pedestrians that passed them. Granted, none of them appeared even the slightest bit suspicious, but she wanted something to do whilst they waited to head into the CIA building.

"I think so," Sabina responded, before turning her laptop around so that the other two could see the screen. "Here are all the flights to England within the next few days… and their prices aren't cheap."

Chrissy gave a low whistle as Alex winced at the prices shown. He supposed he couldn't expect any less when they were booking last-minute flights, but still.

"Those are prices with only cabin luggage, right?" Alex asked. "Nothing in the hold?"

"I thought we were going to share one large suitcase."

"Cabin baggage is cheaper and faster. Fewer items, less bulky. That's easier when you're on the move." At the look the two girls gave him, he shrugged. "Yeah, I know a few things. So what? We all watch those crime drama shows, right?"

The two girls hesitated, but for different reasons – Chrissy, because she knew that Alex was hiding  _something_ ; and Sabina, because she knew  _what_  Alex was hiding. Eventually, Sabina cracked a grin.

"Yeah, I guess." Sliding the laptop over to herself, she sent Alex a sly look. "So is that what you've been doing instead of your homework?"

Alex's cheeks flushed red. "No."

Chrissy smirked as she leaned back in her seat, sipping on her drink. "No, of course not. He's been watching that How To Train Your Dragon series again."

"I have  _never_  watched that series in my  _life_."

"That's not what Netflix tells me."

Alex turned back to focusing on the CIA building ahead of them. As much as he wanted to stay out there and chat all day (or rather, defend himself against the coming judgement he was sure to receive from the girls), they had a problem to solve. There was someone in that building that he wanted to talk to, he was sure of it, but it was just figuring out how to get in. As far as he knew, there was a  _lot_  of security clearance required to even get into the building – guests weren't allowed in randomly. They'd have to be searched, and need a reason for going in. And they'd need to know who they were going to see, even if they lied to security.

This was getting way too complicated.

"How the hell are we meant to get in…?" Alex muttered, his eyes still on the building.

Chrissy's head turned to focus on him. "What? Is that what you've been thinking about this whole time?"

"And keeping an eye out for anyone I recognise that could help us, but yeah. Mainly that."

"Don't ask me for ideas," Sabina said as she typed away at her laptop, still looking for the ideal flight that didn't use up too much of their money. "This part is your problem. Not mine."

Alex just sighed as he went back to focusing on the building ahead of them, still running through ideas of how to get into the building. The idea that kept flashing through his mind was scaling the building, but he couldn't see any steady foot and hand holds on the walls of the structure, and the last time he'd scaled a building because he was curious he'd been recruited against his will into a government agency. He wasn't looking for that to happen again.

Reckless ideas like that? Out the window.

Reckless ideas like crossing the world to save Tom were still the in-thing.

"What about that guy that bailed you out of custody?" Chrissy asked. When both Alex and Sabina stared at her, she shrugged. "He looked real official in his suit and no normal person would've been able to bail you out just by walking in, so he had to be federal. Then I narrowed it down to what agencies would  _actually_  break a kid out of an interrogation simply by walking in without following procedures and—"

"Okay, we get it," Alex interrupted, putting up his hand to stop her from talking. But what she'd said had definitely given him an idea. If they could at least get in contact with the guy who had helped him before… maybe he could help…

Chrissy frowned. "So, what, my idea was a good one or not?" she asked impatiently, watching Alex more closely to see what his answer would be.

Glancing over at Chrissy, he sighed. "Yeah, it's a good one. But that doesn't answer the question of how we get in…"

"Easy. We ask for him."

"We as—" Alex stared at her incredulously. "And how do you propose we do that?"

Chrissy smirked as she pushed her chair back, getting ready to stand. "By being a convincing liar, my young padawan."


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated: 09/09/2019  
> Heya, guys! Hope you're all good! Here's another updated chappie for you guys! Enjoy!

If Alex was being honest, getting into the building was a lot easier than he'd anticipated. It looked as if pretty much anyone could walk through the large glass doors into the building, though security probably stopped the shady ones the moment they got through the doors and detained them on sight.

Looking around, multiple people milled about the main lobby area of the building, which was large and open and had a large insignia of the CIA printed on the flooring (which, in Alex's opinion, was pretty damn arrogant). The majority of people were wearing suits, and Alex decided it wasn't even worth guessing whether they were CIA agents or not. Now it was just about finding the one they needed.

"What was the guy's name again?" Chrissy asked as she, too, glanced around. Looking down at her, Alex was mildly surprised to see that she wasn't in awe like most people would have been. After all, not many people actually managed to get into a federal building like this.

"He called himself Martins," Alex said, and his eyes locked onto the security gate ahead of them that he was sure led to the rest of the building. Before even reaching the gate, there was a reception desk.

"Do you think we'll get in without an appointment?" Chrissy asked, her eyes focused on the same things his were.

The male shrugged as he moved to approach the reception desk. "I guess we'll just have to find out."

Behind the desk, a young brunette with hair tied up neatly sat, typing away at the computer in front of her. She didn't notice the pair stood at the desk until she happened to glance up towards the entrance, and almost jumped.

"Oh! Good day to you both." She sent the pair a pleasant smile as she shifted away from her computer to focus more on the teens at the desk. "How can I help you both today?"

Alex glanced to Chrissy momentarily before focusing on the woman in front of them. "We're here to see Special Agent Martins," he explained.

The woman nodded as she turned and began typing away at the computer. "Unfortunately, he's not available at the moment. Do you have an appointment with him?"

"No…"

"Well, unfortunately his job requires him to be busy and away from his desk for extended periods of time, and he won't be taking calls for a good while," she told them, a condescending tone to her voice as she sent them a sympathetic smile. "You'll have to come back another day."

"What if it's really important?" Chrissy asked, leaning on the desk with a frown on her own face.

"Then you would have booked an appointment with him in advance."

The pair of teens scowled at the woman, but before Chrissy could suggest them doing anything stupid or start begging her to let them in, Alex spotted a couple of security guards shifting in their direction. Ah, so they'd been spotted. And probably would be targeted and kicked out just because of suspicion.

"Oh, well, thank you for your help," Alex said quickly, grabbing Chrissy's arm and beginning to drag her back towards the main doors. The last thing he needed right now was to cause a scene in a federal building – particularly one which he had dealt with multiple times before.

Chrissy planted her feet, stopping the pair before they could reach the door.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded as Alex stumbled to a stop and turned to face her, surprise on his features. "You just… gave in?"

"No," Alex murmured, looking around nervously and trying to make sure they weren't heard. "It was a strategic retreat."

Chrissy stared at him blankly for a few moments, before deciding that instead of getting irritated with him for not telling her what he was thinking, she needed to find out what exactly he meant before he ditched her in the dark. "A what now?"

"They think we're going to leave," Alex clarified calmly, his eyes drifting towards the security guards who weren't paying them attention anymore, "so they're no longer paying attention to us. Which means we can work out another way in."

"I'm not climbing any walls or scaling any buildings."

"Don't worry, you won't have to." He smirked at her. "You just need to be the distraction."

"A distraction." Now Chrissy simply looked unimpressed – most likely because she'd been demoted to just a distraction whilst Alex did all the hard work. "Whilst you do  _what_ , exactly?"

He grinned at her. "Whilst I make my way in, of course."

"Well, I guess that today's a good day to test out how good of a liar I really am."

* * *

The receptionist didn't really expect to see anyone else at the desk that day. As it was, most of the people in the building were government agents, and very few civilians approached a federal building, much less one that belonged to the CIA. Still, they got the occasional tourist or drunk idiot demanding to have government secrets revealed to them – nothing out of the ordinary, really. In an age of decreasing trust in the government, conspiracy theorists were the least of their concerns at the CIA.

So having an apparently sane individual come to the desk, not once but  _twice_  in the same day, was definitely a surprise. Still, the woman put on a pleasant smile as the brunette female stood in front of her at the desk, an innocent smile of her own on the girl's face.

"I'm guessing you managed to get an appointment?" the receptionist asked kindly, though when she didn't get a response the smile faded and she raised a single, challenging eyebrow. "No appointment?"

Chrissy bit her lip, tapping her fingers on the desk, before sighing and speaking.

"I need to speak with someone. And it's not Agent Martins." She leaned in close so that she wasn't heard. "I need to get in contact with Assistant Director Robert Steward."

The woman's eyes widened momentarily, before narrowing. "Any particular reason why, miss…?"

_Perfect_. Chrissy knew she had her right where she wanted her – she'd got her attention, and now she was free to ramble, distract and lie as much as she could.

Hey, even if she wasn't the greatest of liars, sometimes knowing people in high places helped.

* * *

Standing inside the lobby, right near the entrance to the building and hiding behind some well-placed shrubbery, Alex watched as Chrissy began to speak with the receptionist – first leaning in close and apparently whispering, before speaking animatedly. He didn't know why his friend had been so intent on distracting the woman on her own, but it meant that Alex could come up with his own plan to get past that security desk and hunt down Martins in the building.

In a way, it had worked out perfectly.

Even though he knew that this plan of his was downright crazy.

Noticing the expressions on the receptionist's face, though, Alex couldn't help but wonder what exactly Chrissy was talking to her so animatedly about. The woman looked all sorts of bewildered and confused, and as she listened to Chrissy the security guards seemed to gravitate towards the desk, as if they could sense that something was wrong. Or they were  _really_  interested in what Chrissy was on about. Alex was pretty sure the former was most likely.

Watching the whole ordeal unfold, Alex grinned. This was his chance.

As soon as he saw that pretty much every guard in the room was focused on the girl stood at the desk, and not on the very few people actually passing through security, Alex raced across the open space, dodging the people walking across the space into various doors and rooms that led off the main lobby, and slid through the security gates, straight into the corridor behind.

The moment Alex heard the loud beeping that came from the metal detector at the gates, he knew that the race was on, and that security was on his tail. He didn't even have to look over his shoulder to know that. He could hear the cries and calls to stop running, followed by the heavy footfalls of grown men and women racing after him.

Alex forced his way through the CIA agents attempting to continue on with their day at work, speeding past the lift and taking a right to head to the staircase that led to the upper floors. He didn't know how Chrissy had known the ground floor floorplan of the place, but somehow she did, and he wasn't going to question it now when it was actually very helpful. Maybe later.

Bursting into the stairwell, he sped straight up the staircase, taking the stairs two at a time and aiming for the upper floors. He'd just reached the first floor when he heard the door to the stairwell open again, and he knew he didn't have much time before he was caught.

Practically leaping up the stairs, Alex made it to what he deduced was landing for the third floor before he left the stairwell and ran out onto the office floor, emerging into a corridor. Running down the corridor, Alex wasn't surprised to eventually find himself in a bullpen, with multiple desks and offices dotted in cubicles around the floor.

Plenty of space to hide from his pursuers.

He didn't exactly want a cubicle, though, because those were obvious hiding spaces, and likely the first place his pursuers would search for him. No, he needed someplace a lot less obvious so that he could get past all that security and find the person he needed.

Scanning his eyes along the walls of the room, Alex smiled when he realised there were some offices and other rooms leading off from the bullpen floor, and he raced towards a door on the right, nearer to the centre of the room, pushing it open and shutting the door quietly once he was inside. He didn't know whether anyone already on the floor had seen him go into the room, but he realised he'd entered just in time when thundering footsteps sounded outside the door a few minutes later. Pressing himself against the wall by the door and holding his breath, he waited to see if anyone would enter the room.

He was pleasantly surprised when no one did.

Giving a sigh of relief, Alex decided to turn and get a better look at the room he was in.

The room itself was pretty plainly decorated, with a couple of bookshelves along the walls, some worn leather armchairs against the wall the door stood on, and a large window with a desk in front of it; the chair to the desk looked like a swivel seat, there was a corded phone next to a pile of files and papers that clearly needed to be sorted out, and the computer on it? After walking over to the desk and standing by it, he realised that it was older than the systems for a government agency  _should_  be.

Alex was staring at the computer when he suddenly realised something. He still had no idea where exactly Martins would be. He had no idea where his desk was, whether he had a desk in a bullpen or his own office, and what if he wasn't even at his desk? What then?

Then an idea came to mind.

Did they have an employee database? Maybe, just maybe, it was accessible on the computers. And then he would be able to find contact details for him, maybe even find his desk.

Or maybe Chrissy could find out for him from reception.

Pulling out his phone, Alex quickly opened up his messaging thread with Chrissy and sent her a quick one.

_[Text]: Can you find out where exactly that CIA guy's office/desk is? Asking for a friend._

Tucking his phone back into his pocket, it was mere moments later that he got a reply, and it turned out that it wasn't even from Chrissy – it was a picture message from Sabina. He opened it with a slight frown, his expression making way for surprise when he realised what the picture was of.

A business card.

More specifically,  _Agent Martins'_  business card.

"Where the heck did she find this?" he whispered in awe as he reached for the phone on the desk, quickly dialling the number in the photo. He'd have to ask her about this later – it seemed like she had contacts in useful places. There were a couple of phone rings before an answer.

" _Agent Martins._ "

Alex scoffed, rolling his eyes at the man (even though he knew he couldn't see it). "Is that how all federal agents answer their phones?" he asked. From what he could recall… wait, Gibbs had  _definitely_  answered his phone like that. Maybe he wasn't the best agent to compare with.

There was a pause on the other end, before, " _How the heck did you get this number?_ "

"Does that really matter?"

" _Well, if a government agent's number has been leaked, then yeah._ "

"It wasn't leaked to me, I swear."

" _What do you want, kid?_ "

Alex glanced around nervously, hoping that no one could hear him whilst he was in the room. Were the walls thin? He hoped not. How could he put this…? "I… kind of need your help…"

There was a sigh on the other line. " _Didn't I warn you about getting yourself in trouble, kid? We can't bail you out of everything._ "

"This time you aren't bailing me out, I swear." He heard movement outside the door and promptly lowered his voice, ducking so that he couldn't be seen over the desk. "I promise, you aren't."

Martins sighed again, and Alex could imagine him shaking his head. He'd barely met the man, but he could tell that he was exasperated already. The longer he spent in the States, the more he got the feeling that he made a lot of people feel this way around him. " _Okay, what do you need?_ "

"Where, exactly, is your office…?" Alex asked lowly, still trying to keep his voice low so that he couldn't be found. The movement outside the door had stopped, but he wouldn't be surprised if these men came straight back to search the room. They were probably searching all of the bullpens now.

" _Level Six, Room Six. Third door on the right. Why?_ "

Alex let out a sigh, biting his lip. "I'm currently on… Level Four? I've gone up three floors." The American labelling system confused him, but he supposed he had to learn to speak this way.

There was a pause on the other line, and Alex knew at once that Martins was trying to take it all in and work out what was going on. " _…You_ _ **what**_ _?_ "

"See you in a bit."

" _Wait, Alex_ —"

Alex quickly ended the call and sighed, reaching up to put the phone back on its receiver before ducking back down beneath the desk.

Okay, so at least he knew now that he hadn't gone past Martins. The man's desk was two floors up, which meant he still had a way to go.

Except, that meant getting past security.

Pursing his lips, Alex pushed himself out from under the desk and to his feet slowly, and looked towards the door. Even if he managed to get out of the room without being seen, it was likely security would be on one of the upper floors already and he didn't know how far they'd have gone. They might also be smart enough to guard the stairwell as well, blocking his only exit.

Well, not  _exactly_  his only exit.

Turning, Alex faced the large window. Closer inspection showed that it was actually a group of smaller windows, a couple of which opened inwards. Not all the way, but Alex could see a latch that could be released to make the windows open more.

Perfect.

"Can't believe I'm pulling this shit again," Alex muttered as he got to work opening one of the windows. He quickly undid the extra latch before allowing the window to swing inwards. A space large enough for him to hopefully fit through was revealed, and he decided to risk a look out of the window and look down at the street.

Turned out that three storeys up was a long way down. A challenge he was pretty sure he could take on easily, but that didn't mean he wanted to do it. Taking a deep breath, he ducked back into the room and composed himself for a moment before heading back towards the window again, this time to climb out of it.

Getting a good grip on the window was difficult, considering there wasn't much to grab onto, but eventually he managed to grip on as he climbed out. Hesitating as he was half out, he took another look down.

That was a long way to fall if he slipped.

Then he looked up, and he started to feel slightly more overwhelmed.

The building was  _tall_.

Taking a deep breath, he slipped out of the window carefully, gripping tightly onto whatever handholds he could find. Fortunately for him, it wasn't a windy day, but the side of the building he'd climbed out happened to be the side on the street.

And Sabina was probably watching from the cafe.

"Fuck it," he grumbled beneath his breath before beginning to try and climb his way to Level Six.

* * *

For some reason, finding cheap flights to the UK was a lot more difficult than Sabina had expected. She supposed with these being last minute bookings, they were bound to be expensive, but a lot of the flights were also fully booked, and even the cheapest ones were still way over a hundred dollars per person. There was no way she would be able to find them an affordable flight this soon – considering they had to get to the UK and back before the end of spring break.

Sighing, she leaned back in her chair before taking a sip of her recently ordered lemonade. This wasn't going to be easy at all.

Hopefully, Alex and Chrissy were having better luck.

As if some higher being was listening to her thoughts, her attention was caught by a loud cry, and her head shot up towards the direction of the noise.

A small group had gathered in front of the building – not near the doors, but by the wall and windows, as if there was something more interesting there – and all individuals seemed to be looking up at something. The shaded umbrellas at the cafe tables prevented her from being able to see much above the entrance to the building, so she stood and moved away from the table slightly to get a better view of what was going on.

And almost screamed at what she saw.

Because Alex freaking Rider was hanging off the side of the building.

* * *

Chrissy has her arms folded, one leg crossed over the other, as she sat in the interrogation room. Okay, so she knew what she was doing had to be suspicious – after all, whilst she was distracting the woman at the desk, the guy she'd just walked in with leapt over the security desk and was running rampant through the building – and she didn't really blame them for putting her straight in an interrogation room. After all, a random guy running through a secured CIA building with no idea of where to go was pretty dangerous. A very risky move on Alex's part.

Chrissy wondered if he'd been caught yet.

The door to the interrogation room opened, and Chrissy looked up to see a dark-haired, dark-eyed woman into the room, her piercing gaze on Chrissy straight away. The teen quickly uncrossed her legs and sat up straighter as the woman shut the door behind her.

There was silence as the woman sat down, and she stared at Chrissy for a good little while before she spoke.

"Christina Steward," she said slowly, smiling slowly at the girl. Chrissy didn't want to admit that it intimidated her.

"Who's asking?" she replied snarkily, earning herself a raised eyebrow.

"CIA Special Agent Courtney Martinez," she answered, her voice clipped. "The woman who could very easily get you sent to juvie for breaking and entering a federal building."

Chrissy very clearly tensed at that, not caring in that moment that the woman could see her fear. Heck, as far as she was concerned, that woman could probably smell her fear from a mile out. Hiding her fear and coming across as confident would do nothing to help her in this situation.

"Now," the woman placed her hands on the table, slowly pushing herself to a standing position and leaning forward. Chrissy leaned back in her seat, away from the woman leaning forward and almost overshadowing her. "I am only going to ask you this once: why are you here? And trust me, if you are found to be disturbing a federal agency or causing a public disturbance, we will not hesitate to assign the appropriate punishment."

The teenage girl gulped at the threat, her eyes wide as she considered her options for a moment before giving her answer. "We're here to speak with someone."

The woman's eyebrows rose as she leaned back, standing up straighter and nodding slowly. "Alright, then." When Chrissy didn't speak any further, the woman sat down in her seat, forearms on the table and hands clasped together. She looked down at her hands for a moment before back up at Chrissy. "And who would this person be?"

Chrissy bit her lip as she leaned forward, copying the seated position Martinez held. "…Agent Martins," she finally answered quietly.

Martinez let out a slow sigh. "Agent Martins…?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Oh, hell." The woman ran a hand over her face tiredly. "I've had enough of that…" She stopped short, looking back over at Chrissy. "That's where your friend is heading now, right? Up to Martins on Level Six?"

Chrissy opened and closed her mouth a few times. "Uh…" Well, she wasn't exactly sure that Alex knew where Martins  _was_  – the guy had just run off without any explanation, and was probably searching every floor to find that guy. Everything the fair-haired guy did was on a whim – no logical path, just a goal ahead of him he knew he needed to reach.

The more Chrissy realised this, the more frustrated she got with him.

Martinez took her lack of an answer as her cue to stand and leave the room. She had an idea of where Alex was now, or at least where he was heading, and would probably be able to cut him off and drag him into an interrogation room by the end of the day to figure out what was going on.

Hopefully.

As she was leaving, she heard her name being called quietly, and turned to see the young girl, Chrissy, looking up at her with a guilty (and possibly scared) expression on her face. She stopped, waiting for Chrissy to speak.

Chrissy twiddled her thumbs for a few moments, before asking, "None… none of this will get to the Assistant Director, right…?" she asked.

Martinez noted the fear in her eyes and pursed her lips. "We'll see," she finally answered, before turning and leaving the room, shutting the door behind her. Faced with the agent guarding the door on the outside, she sighed. "Make sure no news of this situation gets to the higher ups," she instructed, about to walk off. At the last moment, she turned back to the man. "And get the girl a drink and something small to eat. Until we get the boy running loose in the building, she's not leaving, and she needs to understand that. Capiche?"

At the single nod she received in response, she turned and headed down the corridor. Somebody had to update security about where the boy could be.


	11. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated: 03/11/2019  
> Heya, guys! Here's the next update! Sorry for taking so long with this! I've recently got back to writing on tumblr again, so I've had the muse for that a whole lot more recently. But I'm still writing this, don't worry!

Alex honestly didn't know how long he'd been climbing for, but by the sounds of the cries and screams he heard below him, he was pretty sure it had been for a while (or maybe they were screaming because of the number of times his feet had slipped – he was really out of practice with this sort of thing). He didn't really think he could judge by the pain in his fingers or the cramping in his legs – he hadn't done anything like this in so long, he was pretty sure his body wasn't used to it at all.

Still, he kept going, clinging as closely as he could to the building as he continued to scale it. Mainly because if he didn't, he'd fall and probably die.

He swore, if he turned up on the 5 o'clock news, he was going to sue.

Reaching up, he just about managed to grab into another makeshift handhold before one of his feet slipped, and he scraped at the wall with his foot until he'd managed to find a spot to rest. Stopping for a moment to take a breath, Alex looked up to see how much further he had to go. From what he could see, he'd passed a whole row of windows, and was probably halfway between Levels Five and Six. Not much further to go, and he'd reach Level Six.

And then he'd have to find the exact room that he needed. He had  _no clue_  how the room numbering system worked, not to mention the fact that he only had access to the rooms on one side of the building. Not including any bullpens that technically counted as rooms.

Brilliant.

It took him a while longer to get there, but a few scraped knees and scratched fingertips later, Alex finally reached what he hoped was one of the windows to Level Six, almost right above the window he'd climbed out of. He grunted as he pulled himself up, gripping the ledge and looking over into the room, and that was when he realised his next problem.

The windows unlocked from the  _inside_.

* * *

If there was one thing that Courtney Martinez hated doing, it was hunting through large government buildings for one specific individual, which was why she didn't make a habit of it. In her case, she was searching for two, and she was dearly hoping that they had already found each other and were sitting somewhere together. Otherwise, this whole mission became doubly irritating.

Riding up in the elevator from the basement interrogation rooms (she knew it was harsh to put a teen in there, but there was no way she was putting the girl in an office where any number of agents could see her and start asking questions and looking into her life – that was the kind of thing that happened when you worked in a federal agency,  _especially_  when you worked with the CIA), Courtney tapped her foot impatiently as she folded her arms. The elevator clearly couldn't move any  _faster_ , so she was stuck moving at that rate until she reached Level Six, where she could finally start actually looking for people. Watching the different numbers light up on the panel, she just got more and more impatient as she moved between the floors.

She just wished the damn thing would move a whole lot faster.

She nearly groaned out loud when the elevator stopped at Level Three, the doors opening to allow a couple of agents to walk into the metal box. She guessed that she couldn't get mad at that – this wasn't her private elevator or anything – but it was still frustrating. Was she on a time schedule? Probably not, unless she counted working against that kid's time, because as soon as they got what they needed and left, her trail went cold.

After a stop off at Level Five to drop off the agents that had walked in, and then let in a couple more, the elevator finally reached Level Six, where Courtney practically sprinted out of the box and onto the main floor. Her eyes automatically began scanning the office floor, it didn't take her long to sense that something was wrong, and it was when she spotted the security guards roaming the floor that she realised what it was.

The kid still hadn't been found.

Slinking away from the elevator and sticking closer to the walls, the woman began to make her way around the floor, searching for her targets whilst avoiding the security guards scattered around the floor themselves. If these guards caught even a whiff of what she was doing, they would start searching with her and she had no idea what they were going to do to the kid if they found them. Not that she was overly concerned about the kid themselves, but she needed answers before they decided to throw them out. If they found them first, she definitely wouldn't get the chance to ask questions – at least, not before this all reached the higher ups.

Walking calmly, she passed through an area of the office floor that wasn't occupied by guards and looked between the different desks. Everyone there was at their computers – not necessarily doing work, but definitely at their computers. Everyone there seemed to belong there – all of them were definitely agents, even if she hadn't met them before. None of them seemed like kids dressed up to look older; most of these agents had the hardness of experience etched into their faces like wrinkles.

It was as she reached about halfway across the office area that she spotted a guard ahead of her, and she slowed down. She didn't usually go walking on this floor – any agent or security guard would know that. Which would make her appearance on this floor around the same time that there was a civilian running around the building pretty suspicious – they were CIA agents; they didn't believe in coincidences.

Glancing around slowly, she spotted what seemed to be a clear path to a seemingly empty corridor. If the floorplans of all the floors were the same, that would mean that the corridor led to a few more offices and the toilets.

An ideal place for someone to hide.

Glancing over at the guards one more time, she swiftly made her way to the corridor, barely catching their attentions, and made her way down silently. Spotting the toilets up ahead, she made her way over, pausing by the ladies' before entering the men's room.

The men's room was the worse room. No one liked going in there.

It was the best place to hide.

Closing the door behind her, she looked around, heading further in to search the stalls. No one at the urinals, but only one of the stalls had the door shut. She paused, waiting until there was a flush, before approaching.

She grunted when she ended up colliding with someone coming out of that exact stall.

Stumbling back a little, her brows furrowed when she realised exactly who it was.

"Martins?"

The male blinked back, straightening his suit as he stood taller. "Courtney? What are you doing up here? Shouldn't you be down on—"

"Where are they?"

He scowled at her. "Well, nice to see you too. Except I shouldn't be seeing you away from your desk."

She scowled back, rolling her eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah, hi. Whatever. Where's the kid?" she demanded.

For a second she began to wonder exactly how this man had become an agent, because a flash of recognition and surprise flitted across his features before he managed to school his expression. He was a  _lousy_  liar.

"What kid?" he asked.

She stepped closer to him, pushing her face into his. "The kid that's currently running around the building looking for your  _sorry ass_.  _Where are they_?" she asked through gritted teeth.

Martins paused for a moment, seemingly weighing up his options, before finally opening his mouth to answer. "He called me."

"' _He_ '?"

"Male, teens most likely. His voice cracked a little on the phone, like it was on the end side of breaking."

"Did you trace the call?"

"Came from within the building. Not on a cell phone," he added quickly, "but from one of ours. Kid used an office phone."

_Smart_ , Martinez thought, moving aside to let Martins pass, before something occurred to her. "He used an office phone?"

He nodded as he headed to the sink to wash his hands, which Martinez was glad for. There was no way she would be able to hide her disgust if he didn't. "Yeah. I traced it."

"Which office?"

"Level Four, Room Two. He was asking which office I was in so that he could find me." He paused in speaking for a moment as he grabbed some paper towels to dry his hands. "He sounded hushed, as if he was hiding."

"Well, security all over the building are after him," Courtney pointed out simply, folding her arms as she took in what he said. "Level Four," she muttered as she moved to leave the room. Martins binned the paper and grabbed her arm before she could leave the room, pulling her back and away from the door.

"There's no point going there now. The kid could be anywhere. All we know is that he's on his way up to find me."

Her eyebrows rose in surprise, though she had to resist the urge to pull out of his grip. "And what makes you think that?" she challenged.

Martins paused for a moment, still holding onto her arm, before finally deciding to come out with it. He let go of her arm and sighed. "Have you ever worked with Joe Byrne?"

* * *

Chrissy sighed as she sat in the interrogation room, leaning back in her chair. She wasn't hyperactive or anything, but she was getting incredibly bored just sitting in that room not doing anything. If she was stuck in there any longer, she would do something stupid that she'd regret.

That tended to summarise most of the things she did, but it didn't mean she wasn't going to do something to alleviate that stupidity.

Getting up, she began to pace the room, her eyes scanning the walls. She wasn't sure whether there was anyone behind that two-way mirror, considering she technically wasn't supposed to be in there, but she couldn't be too sure. Even if there wasn't, there definitely was someone watching the security feed from that camera in the top corner of the room.

…Or was there?

Half of security were after Alex. They'd be pretty lax right now, wouldn't they?

She smirked, turning to head towards the door. Even if there was no one watching her from anywhere else, there would definitely be someone outside the door. You'd have to be really  _stupid_  to leave two teens to run free through the building. They'd want to keep an eye on one of them.

Taking a deep breath, her hand rested on the door handle for a moment before she twisted it, pulling the door open.

And coming face-to-face with an agent, left there to guard her.

Of course.

"Uh…" She paused, biting her lip. And then an idea came to mind. Crossing her legs, she leaned on the door, wincing a little. "I really need to go…"

The man (thank goodness it was a guy and not a woman) raised an eyebrow at her, as if challenging her statement with just a look. "' _Go_ '?"

She rolled her eyes at him, bouncing on the spot a few times to emphasise what she meant. "Yeah.  _Go_. As in, I need to use the little ladies' room. Take a whizz. Do a little tinkle. Have a piss. You know?"

The agent stared at her for a few moments, not quite sure what to say in response to that, but eventually nodded, sighing as he stood aside to let her out of the room. Clearly, he did not want to be responsible for any issues that arose because she was denied basic facilities (she didn't blame him – the CIA had a bad enough reputation as it was). Waiting until she exited the room, the man followed her down the corridor until she reached the toilets. Which was the point at which she stopped and turned to face him.

"I'm going to pee now," she announced, giving him a look. "Don't follow me in."

The agent rolled his eyes at her as Chrissy passed through the doorway and into the ladies' room, quickly deciding on a stall to use and entering it. And then leaning on the door from the inside and giving a huge sigh.

In all honesty, Chrissy had known that this part would be difficult, if she'd managed to get out at all. The guard would still be outside the door, and from what she could see, there were no exits out of the toilets other than the one that led back out to the corridor. She was well and truly stuck there, unless she came up with a plan to get away from the guy without him noticing. And she was on a limited time schedule, because Alex wouldn't be running around the building forever, and as soon as he was found, that woman was coming back for her. Being a woman, of course, she'd be able to walk straight in here and take her wherever. Which would probably be straight back to interrogation to ask more nosey questions she didn't have the answers to.

Pursing her lips, she was still thinking when she heard the door to the bathroom open, and she moved to sit on the closed toilet and held her breath as she heard someone move in the room, heading for the other stall. She had to think deeply for a few moments before she finally came up with an idea.

And started whimpering.

For a few seconds she got nothing in response, and then she heard a quiet, "Hello?"

Chrissy gave a little sniffle (if she ever got to tell Alex this, she was going to make him pay up for her acting skills) and managed to force out some fake tears before calling back a weak, "Hi…"

It didn't, for one moment, occur to Chrissy that talking to a complete stranger in the toilet whilst they were trying to pee would be incredibly awkward. It wasn't awkward to her at all, really (which really said something about the kind of person she was), and the quicker she was able to find a way out of the toilet without getting caught or in trouble, the quicker she could find Alex in this damned building.

After a few moments more of fake sniffling, there was a knock on the door to her stall, and she opened it to spot a young woman standing there, a small smile on her face.

"Hey, are you okay…?" she asked softly, a slightly concerned furrow in her brows. Chrissy sniffed a little, before giving her answer.

"I dunno…" she mumbled with a shrug. "I just… I feel crappy…"

The woman nodded. "Do you need to talk about it…?" she asked softly, taking a more relaxed stance and leaning on the wall to the stall. Chrissy guessed it was an attempt to make her feel comfortable enough to speak with her casually about the situation, and though she wasn't exactly feeling hurt or uncomfortable, just knowing that the woman was  _trying_  meant that whatever she was doing was working.

"It's… it's my dad…" Chrissy hiccoughed out, and she scrubbed at her eyes to push away the fake tears that she hoped had appeared. "He… he…"

"Hey, hey, it's okay…" the woman said softly as she moved into the stall, crouching in front of Chrissy so that she was closer to eye-level with the teen. "Did something happen to him…?"

Chrissy managed a nod, sniffing. "They… they won't tell me what happened to him…"

The woman nodded, standing fully. "Alright, then." She pursed her lips for a moment, and Chrissy could see the gears working in her head as she figured what to do with her. After all, she was just a teenager, and she was in a federal building. If this woman hadn't been in contact with security yet, then she wouldn't know about how or why she was really in the building, which would be in her favour. "I might be able to get someone to look at something for you. Will that help?"

Chrissy sniffed a little, rubbing at her eyes again, before giving a nod. "Yeah… yeah… thanks."

The woman gave a half-smile. "Don't mention it."

Chrissy was about to get up, when she suddenly appeared a little nervous, making the woman stop. "Um… what about… the… um…" She took a deep breath. "There's… there's a kinda… kinda creepy guy. Outside the door…" Chrissy bit her lip nervously, twiddling her thumbs to play up her apparent nervousness. "I… didn't really like the look of him…"

The woman's brows furrowed a little at that. "The security guard out in the corridor?" She paused, thinking for a moment. "Well, from what I've heard, there's a kid loose in the building, so he's probably just dealing with that." She gave Chrissy a reassuring smile. "I wouldn't be too worried about that, alright?"

Chrissy bit her lip, continuing to feign nervousness, before nodding. At least, she  _thought_  she was feigning it. "Okay."

The woman gave a nod. "Okay, good. Now, let me use the head, and then we can get you to my desk, and we'll see what I can do for you, alright?"

The girl nodded in response, standing from her seat on the toilet and moving out of the stall slowly, still fiddling with her fingers nervously. It only took a few minutes for the woman to use the restroom and finish, and once she'd washed her hands she gestured for Chrissy to head over and walk with her.

"Walk in front of me, and I can be a barrier between you and that security guard, alright?" she suggested softly. Chrissy nodded, and soon enough the two were leaving the ladies' room, Chrissy in front of the woman. Sparing a glance back, she realised that the security guard wasn't even looking in her direction – he was focused down on his phone, and probably hadn't even realised she'd left.

She smiled to herself. Escape: Complete.

* * *

Gritting her teeth, it took Sabina all of her willpower to not enter the CIA building and demand they get him down from the side of the building that instant. And considering Sabina was a very strong-willed young woman, that meant a lot of willpower was enforced.

As it was, she resorted to heading straight back to the table she'd been sitting at and picking up her phone. She wanted to call Alex – my  _goodness_  did she want to call Alex – but she knew that it was probably very dangerous for him to pick up the phone right then.

Then again, he was known for doing danger, stupid stunts.

Like what he was doing just then.

Sighing (more to herself than anyone else), she quickly pressed number three on speed dial and held the phone to her ear, waiting for him to pick up. As it rang, she made her way out towards the building again, Alex in her line of sight and clinging to the building tightly, apparently stuck. She watched him as one of his hands shifted, pulling something from his pocket before putting it to his ear.

" _Hello?_ "

"What the  _hell_  do you think you're doing?" she snapped down the line, her eyes focusing on him. She almost screamed when he visibly jumped.

" _Hey… Sab…_ "

"Why the  _fuck_  do you think it would be okay to climb up the side of a federal building, Alex? Do you even  _remember_  what happened the last time you did that? You remember what you told me?" When he remained silent, she grit her teeth. "Alex, the last time this happened, MI6  _used_  you. Multiple times! It  _traumatised_  you!"

"… _Okay, so I know I'm doing something stupid…_ "

"Great! Then you're going to  _un_ do it and get the hell down!  _Now_!"

" _Except… I_ _can't_ _._ "

Sabina went silent at that. He couldn't… he couldn't get down…? "Why the hell not?" she snapped, sounding every bit as impatient and worried as she felt.

She could hear him gulping down the line. " _…The window's locked… and going down is harder than coming up…_ "

"Oh for the  _love_  of…" She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, before speaking again. "Alexander Rider, when you eventually come down, I'm going to  _fucking throttle you_."

"… _Please don't_."

"You say that like you have a  _fucking_  choice!" Her phone beeped a couple of times, and she pulled it away from her ear to see that she had an incoming call from an unknown number. She sighed. "I'll call you back,  _moron_." Before Alex could say anything, she put him on hold, answering the call from the mystery person. "Hello?" she asked, her voice suddenly becoming pleasant. After all, she didn't know who the caller was.

" _Hey, Sabina?_ "

Pleasantness went right out the window when she realised it was Chrissy calling.

"What the  _hell_ , Chrissy?! Where are you?!"

" _I… uh, I'm inside the building…?_ "

" _Where_  inside the building, Christina?"

" _I'm at an agent's desk. Using her phone. She leaves it in her desk drawer, so it wasn't too hard to find. Mine got taken from me before I got thrown into interrogation._ "

"Hang on,  _what_?"

" _Never mind. Anyway, do you have any idea where Alex is? He's headed to a specific room, but I have no idea where that is…_ "

Sabina bit her lip as she stared up at her foster brother, who was still hanging on for dear life like the moron he was. "Well, he's currently hanging off the side of the building, like a lunatic."

"… _Wait, what?_ "

"Yeah. Likely outside the room he wants."

" _Fuck. Okay, I'm on the move. Can you give me—_ "

"Looks like Level Six? Fifth floor."

" _Gotcha. If you can tell him I'm coming… please do?_ "

"I'm too pissed to tell him that calmly."

" _Right. I'll just go ahead and find him, then_."

* * *

"Are you really telling me that we employed a  _child_  to work for us?"

Martins sighed as he led Martinez back to his office. Of course, they were moving slowly, trying not to alert the security guard that they were onto something. They were still scouring the floor, and they didn't exactly want to tip them off. Not when, apparently, they both wanted to speak to the kid now.

Hearing that he'd worked with Byrne had got Martinez interested.

"You say that like you're really surprised about the kinds of things this agency does," Martins pointed out as they passed through the office floor, passing the numerous bullpens and desks as they headed back. A quick glance showed that no one had noticed them – not yet, at least. And maybe they wouldn't notice them at all.

"I didn't think we'd stoop so low," Martinez responded shortly, shooting Martins a look.

Martins scoffed and rolled his eyes. "We sell weapons to  _terrorists_. You really don't think we'd move into child labour eventually?"

"Why do you work for this agency if you're so critical of it?"

"It pays the bills."

Reaching the door to the room they needed, Martins reached into his back pocket to pull out the key for his office. Martinez rolled her eyes at him.

"You know what? I still can't believe an agent as young as you got their own office," she snarked, causing him to smirk and look up at her as he leaned down to unlock his door.

"You're just jealous that I get a room all to myself without anyone around to bother me," he teased as he unlocked the door, pushing it open and revealing a plain office – which looked much like the other offices in the building.

"I bet you only got this because of Byrne," Martinez grumbled as she entered the room without even a prompt from Martins, making her way over to the desk and sitting in the wheelie desk chair. She ignored his scowl. "You're too young and inexperienced to have the right to this seat. You should give it to a senior, like me."

Martins scoffed as he pulled his key out of the door and tucked it into his pocket, leaving the door open. Hey, if that kid decided to run past, they wanted to see him. "Please. With the amount of time you spend out on missions, this office would collect dust if you had it."

"It so would not."

"It definitely would."

"It would not!"

"It w—oh  _shit_!"

Martinez frowned at Martins' exclamation, before turning to see what he had been looking at, and then letting out an expletive of her own.

Because not once in her life had Courtney Martinez had the pleasure of meeting a teen hanging outside an office window.


End file.
